Following the early Saturday operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Democratic members of Congress lamented not being notified of the mission ahead of time.
Many Republicans, on the other hand, applauded the Trump administration for taking action to capture Maduro, who was indicted by the Department of Justice in 2020 on drug trafficking charges.
The Justice Department said Maduro and his wife, first lady Cilia Flores, will be tried in the Southern District of New York.
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Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, suggested the raid might have violated the rule of law.
“When we abandon those principles, even in the name of confronting bad actors, we weaken our credibility, endanger global stability and invite abuses of power that will long outlast any single presidency,” Warner said.
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Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered a similar reaction.
“The American people and Congress deserve transparency and real, concrete answers about what is happening in our own hemisphere,” she said. “We need to hear directly from the president on why his varying justifications to date warrant dragging America into an armed conflict without a clear end. We need to know how President Trump will prevent Maduro’s lieutenants and criminal gangs from filling the power vacuum that his unilateral action is likely to create.”
Republicans, however, struck a more supportive tone toward the administration’s approach.
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“I commend President Trump for ordering a successful mission to arrest illegitimate Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the United States to face justice,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said. “Our military performed an incredibly complex mission with characteristic precision and professionalism. Today, we owe a debt of gratitude to the brave individuals who were able to accomplish such a daring operation.”
Wicker added that his committee would convene “as soon as possible” to discuss the raid.
Why weren’t lawmakers notified?
It has been customary, though not always followed, to notify the so‑called “Gang of Eight” members of Congress of covert operations. The group includes the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, in addition to the House and Senate party leaders.
While in practice the full Congress is often briefed before major military action, the Pentagon can limit briefings to the Gang of Eight when actions are considered covert.
The Trump administration has argued that the operation to capture Maduro was a law enforcement action carried out with assistance from the U.S. military.
Gang of Eight members were briefed by the Obama administration on events leading up to the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the decision not to notify lawmakers beforehand.
“We called members of Congress immediately after,” Rubio said. “This was not the kind of mission you can do congressional notification on — it was a trigger‑based mission. It’s just not the kind of mission that you can pre‑notify because it endangers the mission.”
Democrats had previously accused Trump administration of war crimes
Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth briefed lawmakers on U.S. strikes against suspected drug‑smuggling boats off the coast of Venezuela.
Some lawmakers called for closed‑door hearings amid concerns that the United States committed war crimes by striking a boat multiple times.
The Trump administration says the operations are intended to prevent illegal narcotics from entering the United States and to reduce overdose deaths.
Some observers have suggested the maritime operations were aimed at regime change in Venezuela, whose leader, Nicolás Maduro, is not recognized as legitimate by the U.S. government. U.S. officials contend Maduro stole the last election, while Maduro has long blamed the United States for his country’s problems.
