President Donald Trump ordering land strikes against drug cartels in Venezuela and Colombia is "a real possibility," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday.
Appearing on CBS News' "Face the Nation," Graham said Trump has decided that Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, already indicted in U.S. courts on drug-trafficking charges, "has to go."
"Venezuela and Colombia have been safe havens for narcoterrorists for too long," Graham told host Margaret Brennan.
"President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia."
Graham said those operations could "expand from the sea to the land," referencing Trump's recent authorization of naval strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.
"I support that idea," he added, insisting Trump "has all the authority he needs" under Article II of the Constitution.
Trump, speaking Thursday, appeared to confirm the prospect of land operations, telling reporters, "I don't think we're going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country."
The president's blunt remarks, reported by CNN, came after the Pentagon deployed the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the region. U.S. officials say the deployment is part of a counternarcotics mission.
Some say it could pave the way for a regime change in Caracas.
Graham, a former Air Force lawyer, defended Trump's authority to act without a formal congressional declaration of war.
"[Former President George H.W.] Bush 41 didn't have one in Panama, [former President Ronald] Reagan didn't have one in Grenada," he said. "This is protecting America from being poisoned by narcoterrorists."
Pressed by Brennan on whether such actions could amount to war crimes under international law, Graham rejected the notion outright.
"We're not committing murder," he said. "We're protecting our nation from people who want to poison us."
Axios reported Sunday that more than 40 people have been killed in U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, fueling support among many Americans and bipartisan unease on Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers, including Republicans such as Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Todd Young, R-Ind., have demanded greater transparency and questioned whether Trump has the legal authority for such operations.
"If they want all-out war, that has to have a declaration," Paul told Fox News. "We've had no evidence presented. At this point, I'd call them extrajudicial killings."
Graham dismissed Paul's objections as "fundamentally wrong," insisting the president's campaign against narco-traffickers is lawful and necessary.
"The game has changed," Graham said. "We're going to use military force like we have in the past to protect our country. If I were Maduro, I'd find a way to leave before the heat goes down."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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