New details emerging on how the White House intends to run Venezuela : NPR
A day after the Venezuela operation, the White House is clarifying what it means to lead the country, as Congress is sharply divided along party lines.
LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:
Let us now turn to the United States, where the White House and Congress are still making sense of this Venezuela operation. Today we learn more about what the Trump administration intends to say in running this country. And at the Capitol, Republicans and Democrats drew their party lines on this operation. For more on how this attack played out politically, let’s turn to NPR’s Luke Garrett. To welcome.
LUKE GARRETT, BYLINE: Hello, Lauren.
FRAYER: Luke, a day has passed since Trump told the world that his administration would rule Venezuela after capturing President Nicolas Maduro. What do we know about what this means?
GARRETT: That is the question. And today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded in part. This is Rubio on NBC News.
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MARCO RUBIO: He doesn’t run the – he runs the policy, the policy on this. We want Venezuela to go in a certain direction.
GARRETT: Rubio said no U.S. troops are currently in Venezuela, but the U.S. will influence the country through oil sanctions.
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RUBIO: Our military helps the Coast Guard perform a law enforcement function, which is not only capturing Maduro but also enforcing our sanctions. We are going to court. We get a warrant. We seize the boats.
GARRETT: The secretary of state said the U.S. Navy, quote, “oil quarantine” remains just off the coast of the country. In short, Lauren, Rubio says the United States will rule Venezuela, but from a distance for now.
FRAYER: And yet, yesterday, Trump did not rule out sending American troops to Venezuela. Has anything changed there?
GARRETT: No. That hasn’t changed. Rubio said today that Trump would still have the option to send U.S. troops. But for now, the administration and its allies in Congress hope to influence Maduro’s allies who still run the country, namely interim President Delcy Rodriguez. Here’s Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton on CNN, specifically calling out Rodriguez.
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TOM COTTON: It is a fact that she and other indicted and sanctioned officials are in Venezuela. They control the army and the security services. We must deal with this fact.
GARRETT: And yesterday, Trump said Rodriguez would cooperate. But during an interview with The Atlantic magazine today, Trump threatened Rodriguez, saying she would pay, quote, “a very big price” if she didn’t do what was right. So that’s something to watch out for.
FRAYER: What about the legality of this? What legal justification are we hearing from the White House?
GARRETT: So Rubio and Cotton characterized the capture of Maduro and his wife as simply an arrest aided by the military. For this reason, they argue that it did not require notification to Congress, but Democrats disagree. Here’s Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on ABC News.
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CHUCK SCHUMER: They entered Venezuela, bombed civilian and military places. And it’s a violation of the law to do what they did without getting authorization from Congress.
GARRETT: Schumer said a war powers resolution would be voted on this week, and if it passed, Schumer said Trump would not be able to launch another attack without congressional approval. While it’s worth noting here, Lauren, Democrats have forced similar votes in the past. All failed.
FRAYER: So what about the international reaction? All this will play out at the United Nations, right?
GARRETT: That’s right. Colombia requested and received an emergency UN meeting tomorrow morning. In a statement, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was, I quote, “deeply alarmed” by the American attack. But U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz preambled his defense of Trump’s actions on Fox News.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES WITH MARIA BARTIROMO”)
MIKE WALTZ: You’re going to hear a lot of criticism of Article 2 of the United Nations Charter, which deals with sovereignty. And you know, I remind everyone of Article 51.
GARRETT: Now, Article 51 of the United Nations Charter protects a country’s right to self-defense. The White House has long asserted that its military action against Venezuela and its drug trafficking constitutes self-defense.
FRAYER: So many questions, Luke, what are you looking for this week?
GARRETT: First of all, this UN meeting tomorrow. I will also have my eyes on the Senate. You know, are they going to pass this war powers resolution? We’ll look into that.
FRAYER: Thank you very much, Luke.
GARRETT: You bet.
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