(The Center Square) Democratic lawmakers criticized President Donald Trump’s announcement of land strikes against Venezuela and leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture.
In a post to social media, Trump announced the U.S. carried out a “large scale strike” against Venezuela, capturing Maduro and his wife.
The two are in U.S. custody and charged with “narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the U.S.,” according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., criticized the Trump administration’s strikes, saying “it’s not about the drugs.” She said the actions are designed to provoke a regime change and get oil from Venezuela.
“It’s about oil and regime change,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from Epstein [and] skyrocketing healthcare costs.”
However, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz, D-Fla., called the strikes and capture of Maduro “welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled his violent, lawless, and disastrous rules.”
Wasserman Shultz said she hopes the U.S. action will bring “true democracy and liberation.” She said she is concerned that congressional leaders were not informed about the actions against Venezuela and the capture of Maduro.
“I’ll demand answers as to why Congress and the American people were bypassed in this effort,” Wasserman Shultz wrote on social media. “The absence of congressional involvement prior to this action risks the continuation of the illegitimate Venezuelan regime.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., sharply criticized the administration’s actions and called it an “illegal war.” He said the strikes against Venezuela and capture of Maduro are about “satisfying Trump’s vanity.”
“Maduro’s illegitimate election does not give the president the power to invade without congressional approval, nor does it create a national security justification,” Murphy wrote on social media. “That contention is laughable.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., supported the strikes and capture. He said Maduro and other cartel leaders have trafficked drugs into the United States for years.
Thune said he spoke with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about the attack.
“President Trump’s decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, through the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States,” Thune wrote in a post on social media.
