The leaders of the House and Senate said Monday that President Donald Trump did not need congressional authorization for the military operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife and brought them to the U.S. to face federal drug charges.
The Trump administration notified the leaders of both parties in the House and Senate, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as well as the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence committees after the operation began, according to The Hill.
Congressional Democrats criticized the Trump administration for acting without authorization from Congress, citing Article I of the Constitution, which gives the legislative branch authority to declare war.
But Johnson told reporters Monday that the operation was justified under Article II of the Constitution, which grants the president authority to "protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack."
"This is an operation that did not require prior consent of Congress [or] prior authorization of Congress," Johnson said, according to The Hill. "It required notification of Congress."
Thune told reporters he was "comfortable with the notification I had," according to The Hill.
"They didn't tell me ahead of time, but I think there's a reason why, like I said before, notification of Congress in the hands of really critical and hypersensitive missions to me seems ill advised anyway," he said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the operation "at its core" was a law enforcement mission.
"The Department of Justice, dating back [to] the Biden administration, [had] a $25 million reward for his capture," Rubio said.
"And so, we have a reward for his capture, but we're not going to enforce it? That's the difference between President Trump and everybody else.
"All these — it's easy to make a 'Wanted' poster and say $50 million for the capture of Maduro, but no one takes that seriously because you're not going to do anything about [it]. President Trump did something about it," he said.
More than 150 U.S. aircraft, including bombers, fighter jets, intelligence, surveillance, and rotary-wing aircraft, accompanied the U.S. extraction force, according to Joint Chiefs Chair Air Force Gen. Dan Caine.
Rubio also told reporters Saturday that the operation was "just not the kind of mission that you can pre-notify because it endangers the mission."
Jeffries pushed back Monday, contending the operation "wasn't a law enforcement action," but an act of war.
"They're lying to the American people when they say that," Jeffries told reporters.
"It was an unprecedented military action. And yes, in fact, it is a case that Maduro is a bad guy, a dictator, someone who is not the legitimate head of government or head of state in Venezuela.
"We also know that the future of the Venezuelan people should be determined by the Venezuelan people, not by Donald Trump, [War Secretary] Pete Hegseth, or [Homeland Security adviser] Stephen Miller," he continued.
"Are you kidding me? These people don't know how to run the United States of America. And we're supposed to believe there's any credibility to the notion that the Trump administration is going to run Venezuela, a country of 30 million people in South America?
"The American people reject the possibility of another unjustified foreign war. It seems to be on the horizon because of Trump's desire to reward Big Oil in the United States of America nor continuing to not do a damn thing to make life better for the American people," Jeffries said.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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