Democrats raise alarms after Trump avoids congressional approval for Maduro’s capture

WASHINGTON – Republicans in Congress on Jan 3 cheered the Trump administration’s dramatic military action to capture President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela,
but top Democrats sounded alarms about the legality of the operation and said they would seek a quick vote to halt hostilities without express authorisation.

The surprise nighttime operation – and President Donald Trump’s declaration on Jan 3 that he planned to “run” Venezuela
and use the US military to guard its oil resources – all but guaranteed that lawmakers returning to Washington this coming week would instantly confront an intense debate about the situation.

That promised the latest test of whether the Republican-controlled House and Senate, which have deferred constantly to the president, would try to reassert any of their power in an election year.

Senator Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the minority leader, said he would push for a vote this coming week on a war powers resolution to limit Mr Trump’s ability to take further military action without explicit authorisation by Congress.

Senator Andy Kim, D-N.J., said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had “blatantly” lied to Congress in recent briefings when they said the administration’s objective in Venezuela was not regime change.

Mr Kim, a former national security official in the Obama administration, called the move to oust Mr Maduro “disastrous”, arguing that it would further isolate the United States on the global stage.

“Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war,” he wrote on social media.

At a morning news conference in Palm Beach, Florida, the president indicated that he had purposefully skipped informing members of Congress before taking action in Venezuela because he did not trust lawmakers to keep his plans confidential.

“Congress has a tendency to leak,” Mr Trump said.

And after Mr Trump said at the same news conference that the United States would now “run” Venezuela, Mr Schumer warned that such an idea “should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans”.

He called on the administration to immediately brief Congress on its plan “to prevent a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster that plunges us into another endless war or one that trades one corrupt dictator for another”.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the minority leader, also called for a briefing, demanding that the Trump administration immediately present to Congress “compelling evidence to explain and justify this unauthorised use of military force”.

The House and the Senate are set to return to Washington this coming week after a long holiday break.

But Mr Schumer said on Jan 3 afternoon that the administration had not responded to any request from congressional leaders for an immediate briefing.

“They have not given us any details and have not gotten back to us,” Mr Schumer said during a conference call with reporters. “They kept everyone in the total dark.”

Most congressional Republicans rallied around the president’s action, in keeping with the extraordinary deference they have shown to Mr Trump even as he has trampled over congressional prerogatives and contradicted his promises to extricate the United States from foreign conflicts.

Senator John Thune, R-S.D., the majority leader, said Mr Maduro’s capture was “an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States”. He called the operation a “decisive action” by Mr Trump.

Speaker Mike Johnson called the operation “decisive and justified”, and said in a statement that the Trump administration was “working to schedule briefings for members as Congress returns to Washington”.

But even some Republicans gently pressed for more answers from the Trump administration.

“I look forward to hearing more about the Administration’s plans for a positive transition in the days ahead,” Senator Todd Young, R-Ind., said online, while also praising the military personnel who carried out the capture of Mr Maduro.

And others said the operation ran counter to Mr Trump’s America First promises.

“This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end,” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, the right-wing Republican from Georgia who is set to vacate her position as lawmakers return to Washington, wrote in a lengthy social media post. “Boy were we wrong.”

Many Democrats called Mr Maduro’s apprehension good news but said the way in which it was done raised serious questions.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., who represents a district in which Venezuelan immigrants cheered the news, said that Mr Maduro’s capture was “welcome”. But she added: “I’ll demand answers as to why Congress and the American people were bypassed in this effort. The absence of congressional involvement prior to this action risks the continuation of the illegitimate Venezuelan regime.”

And the top Democrats on the national security, intelligence and armed services committees all condemned the action even as they denounced Mr Maduro.

“Last night, President Trump waged war on a foreign nation without authorisation, without notification, and without any explanation to the American people,” Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “Whatever comes next, President Trump will own the consequences.”

At least one Republican expressed concern early on Jan 3 about the operation, but later said he was satisfied with the explanation that Mr Rubio had given him in a phone call. In an initial post on the morning of Jan 3, Mr Mike Lee said he wanted to know “what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action” in the absence of congressional authorisation for military force.

But in a second post hours later, Mr Lee wrote that Mr Rubio had told him that Mr Maduro had been “arrested by US personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States”. He added: “This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect US personnel from an actual or imminent attack.”

Mr Lee also said that Mr Rubio “anticipates no further action in Venezuela now that Maduro is in US custody”.

That post came hours before Mr Trump told reporters that the United States would effectively be running Venezuela and that a US military presence would remain there “as it pertains to oil”. NYTIMES