Some lawmakers criticize Trump’s attack in Venezuela, fearing a costly new war

WASHINGTON — While Republican leaders and allies of President Donald Trump have welcomed his strike in Venezuela aimed at capturing leader Nicolás Maduro, Democrats and even some Republicans from various ideological sides of the party are fighting back.

Immediately after the attack, Trump faced questions from the Capitol about the legality and propriety of the attack, with critics fearing it could drag the United States into another costly war with no end in sight.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a MAGA firebrand who recently accused Trump of betraying the movement, questioned Trump’s justification for the strike, saying on

Instead, she accused Trump of seeking regime change in “a clear move for control of Venezuelan oil supplies.”

“Americans’ disgust with our own government’s endless military aggression and support for foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it,” Greene continued. “And both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are still keeping Washington’s military machine funded and running. This is what many MAGA members thought they voted to end. Boy, were we wrong.”

Centrist Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., echoing others from both parties, said in a statement that Maduro’s capture is “great for the future of Venezuelans and the region.” But the military veteran said he feared the strike could encourage other countries to take similar measures.

“My main concern now is that Russia will use this to justify its illegal and barbaric military actions against Ukraine, or China to justify an invasion of Taiwan,” Bacon said. “Freedom and the rule of law were defended last night, but dictators will try to exploit this to rationalize their selfish goals. »

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a fiscal hawk and libertarian, argued that the Trump administration contradicts its own legal justifications for the military strike.

“If this action were constitutionally justified, the Attorney General would not be tweeting that he arrested the president of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing firearms in violation of a 1934 U.S. gun law,” Massie said on X.

Senator Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, issued a scathing critique of the attack and questioned its legality, saying it was “long past time for Congress to reaffirm its critical constitutional role in matters of war.”

Kaine, who sits on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, said the full Senate would vote “next week” on his bipartisan resolution, prepared before the U.S. strike, to avoid “a war with Venezuela absent clear authorization from Congress.”

“President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to stop Maduro – terrible as it was – is a sickening throwback to a time when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere,” Kaine said in a statement.

“Where will this go next?” he added. “Will the president deploy our troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce the fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To fight terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal? To suppress peaceful gatherings by Americans to protest his policies? Trump has threatened to do all of this and more and sees no need to seek legal authorization from the people’s elected legislature before putting the military in harm’s way.”

The so-called gang of eight — the top four leaders of Congress and the top four heads of the Intelligence Committee — were “not informed in advance” of the attack in Venezuela, said a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., also accused the administration of failing to “properly brief Congress before the Venezuela operation.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision not to notify lawmakers beforehand.

“We called members of Congress immediately afterward. This was not the kind of mission where you can notify Congress,” he said Saturday during a news conference with Trump. “It’s just not the kind of mission you can pre-notify because it puts the mission at risk.”

Trump added: “Congress has a tendency to run. That wouldn’t have been good.”

Several critics of the move have drawn comparisons to the Iraq War, citing Trump’s statement Saturday that the United States “is going to lead the country until we can make a safe, appropriate and wise transition.”

Jeffries said in his statement that “promoting security and stability in a region requires more than just military force, as we have painfully discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Schumer sounded a similar note. “The idea that Trump plans to rule Venezuela should strike fear into the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid a devastating price.”

Sen. Brian Schatz, Democrat of Hawaii, said: “We should have learned by now not to get involved in endless wars and regime change missions that result in catastrophic consequences for Americans. »

Rubio called some members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., they said in separate statements Saturday.

“Today’s military action in Venezuela was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives,” Johnson said. “The Trump Administration is working to schedule briefings for members as Congress returns to Washington next week.”

Thune said he looked forward to those briefings and also suggested the attack was justified.

“President Trump’s decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, through the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step in bringing him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States,” he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told NBC News that Trump’s news conference was a “very strong statement … that the days of the caliphates of narcoterrorism and drugs in your backyard are over.”

“My takeaway is that we are going to be patient. Make sure we rebuild Venezuela, in the interest of the Venezuelan people and make them an ally,” he said. “If I were Cuba, I would be nervous about this press conference.”

Asked about Trump’s statement that the United States would control Venezuela, Graham said: “The context made sense, but long-term operations are difficult. Securing oil, helping rebuild institutions. But the sooner we can have elections, the better.”

Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, tweeted early Saturday morning: “I look forward to knowing what, if anything, could constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.” »

Two hours later, Lee changed his mind after an appeal from Rubio, saying the move “likely fell within the President’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from actual or threatened attack.”