Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) laid out “actions” he said “have already been taken to hold the Trump administration accountable” for Saturday’s military strike in Venezuela that led to the capture of their president, Nicolás Maduro.
“Let me be clear, Maduro is an illegitimate dictator, but launching military action without congressional authorization, without a credible plan for what comes next is reckless,” Schumer said during a press call Saturday.
Maduro was captured early Saturday morning alongside his wife, Cilia Flores. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi called the couple “alleged international narco traffickers” and said Saturday they had been indicted on multiple charges, including narco-terrorism conspiracy.
The administration faced backlash from Democrats following the operation, with House Armed Services Committee member Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) saying Congress was lied to during briefings on Venezuela.
Schumer said during the press call that he was not notified about the military strike, and that he asked the administration in December whether it was pursuing regime change or taking military action in Venezuelan territory.
“They assured me that they were not,” the Democratic leader said. “Clearly, they’re not being straight with the American people.”
Following the military operation, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela until “a safe, proper, and judicious transition” can take place.
“To hear President Trump say that he intends for the United States to run Venezuela? It was reckless, it was dangerous, and looking at the president’s demeanor, he didn’t even seem to be aware of how dangerous and reckless it is,” Schumer said.
He announced “actions” that “have already been taken to hold the Trump administration accountable,” including calling on the administration to brief the top eight congressional leaders at the beginning of next week.
“We want to know the administration’s objectives, its plans to prevent a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster that plunges us into another endless war, or one that trades one corrupt dictator for another,” Schumer said.
Schumer also said the Senate will vote on the War Powers Resolution next week, a congressional measure sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) that “blocks the use of the U.S. Armed Forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.”
Schumer said he has spoken with ranking members on relevant committees, adding that the committee members who have spoken to Republican chairs privately have “expressed a lot of troublesome comments about what Trump is doing and the way he is doing it.”
“We’re going to be pushing our Republican colleagues to stand up for the American people, to get this done,” Schumer said. “Congress should not be sidelined as the Trump administration gets sucked into another nation-building quagmire, and we’re going to hold them accountable.”
“No one can explain to me how this is America First. No one can explain to me how this will have a decent outcome, given what we know about past history and given the presentations that have been made that seem so based on almost surmise and lack of thorough thinking and fact,” he continued.
