Riverside County’s congressional delegation is weighing in on Saturday’s military action in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. military.
“Trump’s war against Venezuela is illegal and puts American service members in harm’s way. The constitution requires congressional approval for war and Trump did not seek it and does not have it,” Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Indio, wrote on Facebook.
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, also took to Facebook on Saturday to express outrage at the lack of congressional notification.
“President Trump is once again acting like a king. He just overthrew the Venezuelan government, dragging us into yet another foreign intervention without Congress’s approval. Republicans need to grow a spine and join us in demanding oversight and checking this imperial president,” Takano said.
However, Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Palm Desert, expressed support for the action.
“Nicolás Maduro is a narco-terrorist who is responsible for the deaths of many Americans. I applaud President Trump, our national security leaders, and our military personnel responsible for apprehending Maduro. He will now face justice for his deadly crimes,” Calvert said.
“I spoke with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth earlier this morning and congratulated him for a successful mission. I was relieved to hear no service members were killed during the operation,” Calvert added. “Over the past year, the world has seen America will no longer tolerate anyone who harms our people, including drug trafficking. The Trump administration is correctly making the safety of America our highest priority.”
Darrell Issa, R-Fallbrook, who also represents part of the Coachella Valley, also expressed his support.
“Our elite military have again performed brilliantly with total effectiveness, and minimum loss of life. They are the best-trained, best-equipped, and bravest in the world,” Issa wrote. “Once again, @realDonaldTrump has taken strong action to protect America’s homeland from neighboring threats of narcoterrorism and the scourge of deadly narcotics. The Trump Administration has my full support.”
California’s two Democratic senators also weighed in.
“Let’s be absolutely clear: Trump’s military action in Venezuela is unlawful without approval from Congress. There’s no clear objective, no endgame, and no plan for what comes next. This is a dangerous recipe for chaos in the region,” Sen. Alex Padilla wrote.
“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,” Sen. Adam Schiff wrote.
After months of escalating tensions in which the U.S. conducted deadly strikes against alleged drug boats from Venezuela, seized an oil tanker and ordered a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers, the U.S. military launched the large-scale operation in Caracas overnight Friday and early Saturday.
Maduro, who is under federal indictment in the United States for allegedly running a cartel that has funneled drugs into the U.S., and his wife were taken from their home and were being transported to New York to face charges.
At a news conference Saturday, Trump said the United States would “be running” Venezuela indefinitely until a “judicious” transfer of power could take place. He added that the United States would be taking over the country’s oil fields, increasing production and selling the oil to other nations, including China and Russia.
Venezuela contains the world’s largest proven oil reserves and used to be among its largest oil producers, but its production has fall off drastically in the last couple decades.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Saturday that the nature of the military operation, which officials planned for days but waited to launch until weather conditions were ideal, did not allow for congressional notification. Trump added that Congress was known to leak information, and that could have jeopardized the mission.