‘They lied to our face’: Democrats decry Trump’s military raid on Venezuela | Democrats

Democratic leaders reacted with fury on Sunday to Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela, calling it an illegal act committed without the required approval of Congress and one that would lead to disaster for the American people.

Top Democrats took to Sunday television political shows to express dismay at lawmakers’ lack of advance notification of the audacious military raid that occurred 24 hours earlier.

They described the action to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as illegal under the U.S. Constitution and misguided from the perspective of the United States’ standing in the world, where many authorities, including the United Nations Secretary-General, have accused the United States of violating the founding charter of the United Nations.

“They literally lied to our faces,” Chris Murphy, the U.S. senator from Connecticut, said Sunday, referring to a briefing on Venezuela that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave his chamber last month. “The message they sent was that this wasn’t about regime change… They said it was just a counter-narcotics operation. »

During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Murphy called the action in Venezuela in the early hours of Saturday “extremely illegal,” adding, “There’s no way you can trust this administration.”

According to the U.S. Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war. The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires presidents to seek congressional approval for military engagements.

Yet in the case of the bombing of Venezuela at dawn on Saturday and the military landing to oust Maduro, even the “Gang of Eight,” the top congressional leaders of the two major parties, traditionally consulted on national security issues, were not briefed on the operation.

“I still haven’t received a phone call,” said Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He told CNN: “I’m a member of the Gang of Eight and I haven’t received a phone call yet from anyone in the administration. »

In a context of widespread condemnation of the Maduro dictatorship and contempt for international laws, Democrats nevertheless decried the unilateral intervention of the Trump administration in this South American country.

Himes blasted the military operation, which he called an “imperial adventure,” as “another example of absolute lawlessness on the part of this administration.” He accused Trump of “paving the way for disaster” and “not giving a damn about the US Congress.”

Trump and his entourage have tried to justify bypassing Congress in Maduro’s kidnapping by describing it as a law enforcement and counter-narcotics operation rather than a military strike. Top Democrats said it was a cover-up.

Hakeem Jeffries, who leads Democrats in the House of Representatives, told NBC News’ Meet the Press that the action in Venezuela “was an act of war. It was a military action involving Delta Force, involving the military, involving apparently thousands of troops, involving at least 150 military aircraft.” Rubio denied it was a war.

Trump’s ostracism of Congress significantly raises the stakes in next week’s vote in the U.S. Senate on a bipartisan war powers resolution. It aims to prevent the administration from launching new military hostilities against Venezuela without express approval from Congress.

The debate is privileged, meaning it cannot be stopped by Republican leaders and requires a simple majority to pass. He has the support of Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky who is a thorn in the president’s side on foreign policy.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, is another sponsor of the war powers resolution. He told ABC News’ This Week that if the measure gets a majority vote in both chambers, “then the president will not be able to do anything else in Venezuela without congressional approval.”

Schumer described Saturday’s action and Trump’s assertion that Venezuela would be run by the United States for now in apocalyptic terms. “We have learned over the years that when America attempts regime change and nation building in this way, the American people pay the price in blood and dollars. »

He said it represented the exact opposite of what Trump promised during the 2024 presidential election campaign. “What Donald Trump has campaigned against over and over again is an end to endless wars, and right now we are headed toward war without barriers, without discussion.”

In his CNN interview, Murphy echoed Trump’s remarks on Saturday that the United States would temporarily take control of Venezuelan oil. He said this highlights the real motive behind Maduro’s ouster: the further enrichment of Trump and his friends.

“Venezuela is in the business of making money for its friends. Wall Street, the oil industry, they can make a lot of money from Venezuela if they manage it,” he said.

“Once again you see that this president’s foreign policy, the invasion of Venezuela, the ousting of Maduro, is about enriching his mobs. It has nothing to do with American national security.”