Sen Warner slams Trump for excluding Democrats from briefings on boat strikes

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized the Trump administration after it held briefings with only Republican lawmakers on U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

Warner called the decision to exclude Democrats from national security briefings “indefensible and dangerous.”

“Avoiding Democrats from a briefing on U.S. military strikes and denying legal justification for those strikes to half the Senate is indefensible and dangerous,” the senator said in a statement. “Decisions about the use of U.S. military force are not campaign strategy sessions, and they are not the private property of a single political party.”

“For an administration to treat them in this manner undermines our national security and runs counter to Congress’s constitutional obligation to oversee matters of war and peace,” he continued.

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Sen. Mark Warner criticized the Trump administration for excluding Democrats from briefings on U.S. military strikes on suspected drug boats. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Warner said the partisan “blow” is a “slap in the face” to Congress’s war powers responsibilities and to the men and women in uniform. He also stressed that it sets a “reckless and deeply troubling precedent.”

Reports indicate that the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has produced a legal opinion justifying the strikes that Democrats have been calling for in recent weeks.

“The administration must immediately provide Democrats with the same briefing and OLC opinion justifying these strikes, as Secretary Rubio personally promised me he would do in a face-to-face meeting at the Capitol last week,” Warner said in his statement. “Americans deserve a government that fulfills its constitutional duties and treats decisions regarding the use of military force with the seriousness they demand.”

The Pentagon, responding to Warner’s criticism, said the “appropriate” committees had been informed of the strikes.

“The War Department has briefed the appropriate committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee, on numerous occasions throughout operations targeting narcoterrorists,” Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement. “These events have occurred on a bipartisan basis and will continue to do so.”

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Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the U.S. military had struck another boat carrying people he claims are narcoterrorists. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also wrote a letter Wednesday demanding a review of the legal justification for the series of boat strikes that they say appear to violate several laws.

“Drug trafficking is a terrible crime that has had devastating effects on American families and communities and must be prosecuted. Nonetheless, the President’s actions to hold suspected drug traffickers accountable must always comply with the law,” the letter said.

The Trump administration has also come under scrutiny from members of his own party, including Sen. Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who has raised concerns about killing people without due process and potentially killing innocent people.

Paul cited Coast Guard statistics that show a significant percentage of boats boarded on suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent.

The senator also argued that if the administration plans to engage in war with Venezuela after targeting boats it says are carrying drugs for the Venezuela-linked Tren de Aragua gang, it must seek a declaration of war from Congress. In the House, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., made similar statements.

The Pentagon said the “appropriate” committees had been informed of the strikes. (Reuters)

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It comes as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced that the US military on Wednesday struck another boat carrying people he called narcoterrorists. The strikes were carried out in the Eastern Pacific region at the direction of President Donald Trump, killing four men on board.

This is the 14th strike carried out against boats suspected of drug trafficking since September. A total of 61 people were reported killed while three survived, including at least two who were later repatriated to their home countries.

The Pentagon has not released the identities of those killed or evidence that drugs were on board.