Today, Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) issued the following statement in reaction to U.S. military operations in Venezuela:
“Nicolás Maduro was a thug and an illegitimate leader of Venezuela, terrorizing and oppressing its people for far too long and forcing many to leave the country. But starting a war to remove Maduro doesn’t just continue Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution, it further erodes America’s standing on the world stage and risks our adversaries mirroring this brazen illegal escalation.
“For months, as the Trump administration massed American servicemembers and firepower in the Caribbean, and used military force to destroy vessels and kill those on board, I and others in the Senate forced bipartisan votes to stop the illegal misuse of our armed forces. We warned that the true motive was not drugs, but regime change in an oil-rich nation. Despite all of the administration’s false denials, those motivations are now clear.
“Acting without Congressional approval or the buy-in of the public, Trump risks plunging a hemisphere into chaos and has broken his promise to end wars instead of starting them. And in conjunction with his continued saber-rattling around the world and dropping approval ratings at home, the American people should be concerned that this is not the last time he will break that promise.
“The president has vowed that this is not the end of our engagement in Venezuela, saying that ‘we’ll be involved in it very much.’ Congress must bring up a new War Powers Resolution and reassert its power to authorize force or to refuse to do so. We must speak for the American people who profoundly reject being dragged into new wars.”
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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement following President Trump's military action in Venezuela:
"President Trump’s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro — no matter how terrible a dictator he is — is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region. What does it mean that the U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela, and what will Trump do next around the world? The American people voted for lower costs, not for Trump’s dangerous military adventurism overseas that won’t make the American people safer.”
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It may just be the third day of the new year, but Donald Chump is already amping up his campaign for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize as only the global village idiot can: By starting a new war. He not only toppled the government of Venezuela, he stormed the country and kidnapped the country's president Nicolas Maduro.
It's Saturday, January 3rd. The weekend after New Year's and you might have though it would be an easy coast through day. But there's no such thing when Chump's in the White House. John Mulaney warned us all about that six years ago when Chump was destroying the country in his first term.
Before we go further, that's how things are done now? Because if that's how things are done, I'm sure there are leaders across the world who must think Chump should be the next target for overthrow and kidnapping. Do unto others as you as you would have them do unto you.
Not that Donald Chump would know it but that's the Golden Rule and it's in the Bible and the central teaching of Jesus Christ. Non-believer Chump doesn't know anything about the Golden Rule. Or karma. But he has imposed a sentence upon himself and the universe will extract justice. That's how it goes. And he put the curse on his own wife when he had US forces also kidnap Cilia Flores -- the First Lady of Venezuela.
Right now? Right now the American people need to realize that Chump has lied to them for months now. He's claimed he was attacking Venezuelan boats due to drug trafficking. That was never true.
Julian E. BarnesTyler Pager and Eric Schmitt (NEW YORK TIMES) note:
Mr. Trump has justified what was named Operation Absolute Resolve as a strike against drug trafficking. But Venezuela is hardly as big a player in the international drug trade as other countries. Officials had previously told congressional leaders that their objective in Venezuela was not regime change. And Mr. Trump has long said he opposes U.S. foreign occupations.
Yet on Saturday, the president proclaimed that American officials were in charge of Venezuela, and that the United States would rebuild the country’s oil infrastructure.
In contrast to messy U.S. interventions of the past — by the military in Panama or the C.I.A. in Cuba — the operation to grab Mr. Maduro was virtually flawless, according to multiple officials familiar with the details, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the plans.
It was never about drugs. He lied. Those of us who called him out knew he was lying. Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani (THE NEW REPUBLIC) explains:
Just hours after President Donald Trump bombed Venezuela and abducted its leader, Nicolás Maduro, he began talking about the Latin American country’s oil industry.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves on the planet, with 303 billion barrels worth of crude, or about a fifth of global reserves, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. And that fact has clearly been at the top of Trump’s mind.
Appearing in a Fox News interview Saturday morning, Trump was asked what he sees for the “future of Venezuela’s oil industry.”
“Well, I see that we’re going to be very strongly involved in it, that’s all. I mean, what can I say? We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it.”
No War For Oil. Remember that slogan. Chump was rather creative with his 'opposition' to the Iraq War. His so-called opposition is now revealed as just one of the many frauds Chump has pulled on people over his too-many decades. He never stood a chance at a Nobel Peace Prize but this action ensures that. He's a liar. He's a War monger. And Venezuela is said to have one of the largest oil reserves in the world.
And the whole world sees what just went down. Steven Erlanger (NEW YORK TIMES) notes the reaction to "American gunboat diplomacy:
The reactions were particularly angry from Latin America and from leaders who are more on the left and who have struggled with President Trump and his trade, tariff and other policies in the region. Allies of Mr. Maduro, including Cuba and Russia, predictably condemned the American intervention, despite Russia’s own invasion of sovereign Ukraine nearly four years ago. And some, like a senior Mexican official, said that Mr. Trump was simply after Venezuela’s large oil deposits.
Shortly after President Trump announced that the United States would “run the country," European leaders appeared to largely support the end to Mr. Maduro’s rule and were more cautious to criticize Mr. Trump’s intervention.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany wrote on social media that “Maduro has led his country into ruin” and that the U.S. intervention was “complex” and required “careful consideration,” without going into further detail. “The objective” now, he added, “is an orderly transition to an elected government.”
President Emmanuel Macron of France wrote on X that the Venezuelan people could “only rejoice” at the end of Mr. Maduro’s dictatorship, and did not address the U.S. approach. Before Mr. Trump’s announcement, however, the French foreign minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, wrote on social media that the military operation “violates the principle of non-resort to force that underpins international law.”
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was particularly scathing. He condemned the U.S. action and said it recalled “the worst moments of interference in the politics” of the region.
“The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” Mr. Lula wrote on social media. “These acts represent a grave affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty and yet another extremely dangerous precedent for the entire international community.”
The victims are the people of Venezuela. Chump has destabilized their country and he plans to steal the oil. He has no right to the oil and these are thug tactics and they are in violation of international law. Maduro? Appears to have been a minor Donald Chump, a despot not beloved among he Venequelan people. US House Rep Jasmine Crockett rightly notes in the video below we can all out Chump's actions without glorifying Maduro.
Malcolm Ferguson (THE NEW REPUBLIC) quotes Chump stating, "As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, for a long time. We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure … and start making money." Callum Jones (GUARDIAN) adds, "US oil giants have so far remained silent on Donald Trump’s claim that they are primed to spend 'billions and billions of dollars' rebuilding the Venezuelan oil industry following the ouster of Nicolás Maduro. Chevron, the only US oil company still operating in Venezuela, committed only to following 'relevant laws and regulations' after the US president suggested American energy multinationals would be central to his plans for the country." The Socialist political party Workers World maintains, "U.S. aggression against the sovereign country of Venezuela is nothing more or less than an act of piracy with not one iota of justification. It is a war crime against the people of Venezuela, against all the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean and in the end is also a crime against the workers and oppressed peoples of the United States." (WSWS, another Socialist outlet in the US, announced that they would be on vacation until Monday -- which means late Sunday night for most US time zones. They don't appear to be coming back early to address this violation of international law. Maybe Bari Weis is now also editoir-in-chief of WSWS?) The US Green Party's statement includes, "We strongly oppose this illegal act of war which violates both the US Constitution and international law. Congress needs to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against Trump. The Party also harshly reacted to the assertion by Trump that the United States will now be running Venezuela for the near term and if he faces any local opposition, he will send in a second wave of American military forces to subdue the population. The Party urges the Senate to vote on the resolution scheduled for next week to halt military intervention. The bipartisan resolution only needs a majority to pass." Josh Marshall (TALKING POINTS MEMO) offers, "Trump thinks it’s cool and has a personal beef with Maduro. That combination of factors created a lot of forward momentum within the U.S. government with nothing pushing back in the opposite direction. That gets you to today. My point is that it’s a mistake to think there’s a “real” reason mixed in with other subterfuges and rationales, or that it’s important to find out which one the “real” reason is. It’s not that linear or logical." Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, states, "Far from putting America first, Donald Trump’s illegal attack on Venezuela is a reckless stunt to distract from private scandals and his failure to lower costs for working people. The Trump Administration claims it targeted Maduro because of drug trafficking. But if Trump were serious about helping end the overdose crisis, he wouldn’t be kicking people off of Medicaid or defunding drug treatment and prevention programs. And he certainly wouldn’t be pardoning major narco traffickers like Juan Orlando Hernández. [. . .] Wasting billions on bloated military budgets does nothing for communities ravaged by addiction, or the millions of Americans struggling to cover the rising costs of health care. More military spending in South America will mean even fewer resources at home for the things working families need, like affordable health care, good public schools, and quality child care. Breaking U.S. and international law in the name of regime change, even against a dictator like Maduro, makes us all less safe. Trump does not have the power to go to war without congressional authorization, or to hand control of another country over to a cadre of oil companies. This illegal occupation could destabilize the region, set a dangerous precedent in the U.S., and embolden other countries to start their own wars of choice." Sharon Zang (TRUTHOUT) notes, "On Saturday morning, in his first speech after the invasion, Trump said, 'We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.' He offered few details and no timeline regarding the American occupation of the country, but later said he was 'not afraid of boots on the ground.' When asked by reporters about the potential cost of occupying Venezuela for an undefined period of time, Trump said, 'It won’t cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial'." Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani (TNR) notes, "After the U.S. bombed Venezuela in the middle of the night and abducted its president, Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump warned that more attacks could be on the way in the region. Trump hinted at a future conflict with Mexico in particular in an interview with Fox News Saturday morning." The Center for Constitutional Rights released the following statement, "The Trump administration has chosen catastrophe. Buoyed and inspired by the U.S.’s long legacy of military intervention and disregard for international law and people’s right to self-determination, today’s blatantly unlawful aggression in Venezuela reads like a caricature of imperialism. The choice to re-militarize the Caribbean and force regime change in Venezuela condemns not only the U.S. government, but an international community that has failed to stop powerful states from imposing their will through force. Read our statement from November and follow the lead of people’s movements who are taking to the streets around the world today to demand an end to bombings, to all wars, and to a political order that accommodates and encourages such violence, vengeance, and grotesque displays of unchecked abusive state power." Amnesty International's statement included, "Amnesty International is particularly concerned about the risks of further escalation of human rights violations in the country, stemming either from additional US operations or from the Venezuelan government’s responses to the US attacks. The organization urges the US government to abide by international humanitarian and human rights law, prioritize the protection of civilians, and uphold the human rights of all persons deprived of liberty, including due process and humane treatment." Troy Matthews (MTN) notes the government of Venezuela has issued a statement:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely grave military aggression perpetrated by the current Government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and population in the civilian and military localities of the city of Caracas, capital of the Republic, and the states of Miranda, Aragua, and La Guaira. This act constitutes a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter, especially its articles 1 and 2, which establish respect for sovereignty, the legal equality of States, and the prohibition of the use of force. Such aggression threatens international peace and stability, specifically in Latin America and the Caribbean, and puts the lives of millions of people at grave risk.
DNC Chair Ken Martin issued the following this morning:
Another day, another unconstitutional war from Trump, who thinks the Constitution is a suggestion.
Congress has war powers — but Republican cowards are hiding under their desks while Trump orders an unauthorized attack against Venezuela.
Trump promised peace, but has delivered chaos.
November can’t come soon enough.
Ken
Ken Martin
Chair
Democratic National Committee
Katie Herchenroeder (MOTHER JONES) reports:
Democratic members of the Committee on Armed Services, which helps oversee the nation’s military, denounced President Donald Trump’s announcement on Saturday that United States military forces struck Venezuela and captured the nation’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Trump did not seek congressional authority for the attack and said at a press conference that the US is “going to run the country.” Trump’s decision to move ahead without congressional approval may be a violation of the US constitution and amount to a criminal act, according to legal experts.
Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona and a veteran who served as a combat pilot and flew dozens of missions in the Gulf War with Iraq, said in a statement that Trump “doesn’t understand the risks and costs involved with these poorly thought-out decisions that don’t make Americans any safer today than they were yesterday.” Maduro, he added, “is a brutal, illegitimate dictator who deserves to face justice.”
“I want the people of Venezuela to be free to choose their own future,” Kelly continued, “but if we learned anything from the Iraq war, it’s that dropping bombs or toppling a leader doesn’t guarantee democracy, stability, or make Americans safer.”
[. . .]
Other Democratic senators on the Armed Services Committee decried the Trump administration’s latest escalation in their ongoing military operation against Venezuela.
“This is ludicrous,” Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement. He added that no plan has been presented for what the costs the US will have to bear to “run” Venezuela, as Trump has described. Reed, a decorated veteran and former West Point faculty member, continued, “History offers no shortage of warnings about the costs – human, strategic, and moral—of assuming we can govern another nation by force.”
“President Trump’s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro—no matter how terrible a dictator he is—is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote on X.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, wrote on X that Trump’s “actions continue putting American troops, personnel and citizens at risk both in the region and around the globe.” “None of that,” the Illinois representative added, “serves our nation’s interests.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a series of posts on X, “Maduro is a cruel criminal dictator, but President Trump has never sought approval from Congress for war as the Constitution requires—& our military deserves.”
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Senator Murray: “It is outrageous for a President who is tanking our economy here at home to suggest that the American taxpayer spend a fortune to ‘run’ another country while doing nothing to make life better in America. I opposed the war in Iraq from the outset—and the parallels here are glaring. I will similarly oppose any war in Venezuela. I refuse to put the lives of servicemembers at further risk, and I refuse to saddle our children with yet another costly war for no good reason.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Trump unilaterally launching a regime change war in Venezuela, where he ordered strikes on multiple military targets in the country and seized Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela along with his wife Cilia Flores.
“The American people didn’t ask to start a war with Venezuela. They didn’t ask for an indefinite and costly occupation of another country and they didn’t ask for ‘boots on the ground,’ their sons and daughters put in harm’s way. All they asked for were lower prices at the grocery store. Only Congress can authorize war and I absolutely will not support a large-scale military conflict in Venezuela or a dangerous and expensive occupation. What the President has done is unconstitutional, reckless, and will have far-reaching effects well beyond last night’s strikes.
“The President has provided no legitimate justification for
these unauthorized strikes nor any kind of long-term strategy for how he
will deal with the fallout of this slapdash regime change—and he must
now explain his unhinged statements that we will ‘run’ Venezuela. The
American people can see for themselves how dishonest and cynical this
entire venture is—we’re supposed to believe drug trafficking warrants
the use of military force to topple a foreign government in one instance
and then merits a full pardon for the former President of Honduras who
was lawfully convicted of the same crime? And we should all be eyes wide
open about the potential for self-enrichment and corruption by the
Trump administration when it comes to profiting off Venezuela’s oil.
This is not about law and order, because if it were, Trump wouldn’t have
withheld these plans from Congress, and it is not about actually
helping Americans suffering from drug addiction.
“Maduro is a
corrupt and oppressive dictator—that much has always been clear. But
what stops China or Russia from making similar claims about foreign
leaders they don’t like and then using military force to overthrow them?
This kind of careless use of military force threatens serious global
instability—and none of that is good for Americans here at home.
“There needs to be serious oversight and accountability here. Trump administration officials must come before Congress and publicly explain their rationale and—importantly—just what exactly they think happens next here. Republican leaders should not just shrug their shoulders and let the President bomb whoever he wants on hardly more than a whim—they must join Democrats in pressing for serious accountability and insisting that the use of military force be authorized by Congress.
“If this escalates into a prolonged conflict of any sort, you can bet it won’t be Trump’s family putting their lives on the line—the American people do not want to be dragged into another costly foreign war with no real justification. It is outrageous for a President who is tanking our economy here at home to suggest that the American taxpayer spend a fortune to ‘run’ another country while doing nothing to make life better in America. I opposed the war in Iraq from the outset—and the parallels here are glaring. I will similarly oppose any war in Venezuela. I refuse to put the lives of servicemembers at further risk, and I refuse to saddle our children with yet another costly war for no good reason.”
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And with this from Senator Cory Booker's office:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement:
Today, many leaders will rightly condemn President Donald Trump’s unlawful and unjust actions in Venezuela, and I join them.
But just as glaring, and far more damning, is Congress’ ongoing abdication of its constitutional duty. For almost a year now, the legislative branch has failed to check a president who repeatedly violates his oath, disregards the law, and endangers American interests at home and abroad.
Time and again, Congress, now led by Republicans, has chosen spineless complicity over its sworn responsibilities. From the reckless leaking of classified information that put American troops at risk, to the illegal use of military force destroying vessels and killing people in the Caribbean and the Pacific without congressional authorization, there has been a stunning absence of accountability.
No hearings.
No serious investigations.
No enforcement of checks and balances.
No accountability.
Again and again, the president has exceeded his authority, defied congressional intent, trampled the separation of powers, and broken the law - while Congress looked away in cowardice and submission.
Republicans in Congress own this corrosive collapse of our constitutional order. With only a handful of honorable exceptions, they have bent themselves to the will of Donald Trump, afraid to state in public the feelings they often communicate privately. That submission, this abandonment of independent judgment and constitutional courage, now stands as one of the greatest dangers to our nation and to the global order America claims to defend.
Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator who has committed grave abuses. The United States military remains the most capable fighting force on Earth, and our praiseworthy service members carry out their orders with professionalism and excellence.
But none of that suspends the Constitution.
The Constitution is unambiguous: Congress has the power and responsibility to authorize the use of military force and declare war. Congress has a duty of oversight. Congress must serve as a check, not a rubber stamp, to the President. On this count, Congress has failed.
We face an authoritarian-minded president who acts with dangerous growing impunity. He has shown a willingness to defy court orders, violate the law, ignore congressional intent, and shred basic norms of decency and democracy. This pattern will continue unless the Article I branch of government, especially Republican congressional leadership, finds the courage to act.
They must stop behaving as partisan puppets and start acting as patriotic constitutional stewards.
What happened today is wrong. Congressional Republicans would say so immediately if a Democratic president had done the same. Their silence is surrender. And in that surrender lie the seeds of our democratic unraveling.
There are still three years left in this administration. From the pardoning of individuals who violently attacked police officers while attempting to overturn our election to this latest extrajudicial assault on another nation’s sovereignty, the damage will continue unless it is confronted.
Enough is enough.
Congress has failed. But it is not too late to redeem the harm done by a year of submission and silence. Congress must act now. It must reassert its constitutional authority, restore the rule of law, and stop this president before further injury is done to our democracy and our republic.
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