Virginia senators challenge Trump on Venezuela war powers

Both of Virginia‘s senators are reacting to the Jan. 3 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

United States air and naval forces deployed in Venezuela on Jan. 3 to capture Maduro and Cilia Flores, his wife. Maduro was charged in a four count indictment accusing him of leading a 25-year narco-terrorism conspiracy. The indictment is  available through the Department of Justice.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man. I am still president of my country,” Maduro said during his plea hearing, through an interpreter.

Senator Kaine reintroduces war powers resolution to restrict further military action

Senator Tim Kaine was critical of the Trump administration‘s characterization of the capture of Maduro not being an act of war against the country.

“To say this isn’t a military action that requires Congressional authorization is to put your head in the sand,” Kaine said in an interview with Fox News.

Kaine previously introduced a war powers resolution aimed at blocking use of U.S. Armed Forces within or against Venezuela without Congressional approval. The resolution has not received enough votes to pass. Kaine confirmed to MS NOW his intentions to bring the resolution back to Congress after Maduro’s capture.

“It is long past time for Congress to reassert its critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy and trade,” Kaine said. “My bipartisan resolution stipulating that we should not be at war with Venezuela absent a clear congressional authorization will come up for a vote next week. We’ve entered the 250th year of American democracy and cannot allow it to devolve into the tyranny that our founders fought to escape.”

Senator Mark Warner, in an individual statement, echoed Kaine’s war powers resolution, saying the use of “military force to enact regime change demands the closest scrutiny, precisely because the consequences do not end with the initial strike.”

Warner pointed to Trump’s pardoning of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, convicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.

“The administration claims that similar allegations justify the use of military force against another sovereign nation,” Warner said. “You cannot credibly argue that drug trafficking charges demand invasion in one case, while issuing a pardon in another.”

Neither Kaine nor Warner are in support of Maduro

Both senators emphasized they were not defending Maduro, but making sure the power to declare war, given to Congress by the U.S. Constitution, remains with Congress.

“None of this absolves Maduro,” said Warner. “He is a corrupt authoritarian who has repressed his people, stolen elections, imprisoned political opponents, and presided over a humanitarian catastrophe that has forced millions of Venezuelans to flee. The Venezuelan people deserve democratic leadership, and the United States and the international community should have done far more, years ago, to press for a peaceful transition after Maduro lost a vote of his own citizens. But recognizing Maduro’s crimes does not give any president the authority to ignore the Constitution.”

“President Trump’s unauthorized military attack on Venezuela to arrest Maduro – however terrible he is – is a sickening return to a day when the United States asserted the right to dominate the internal political affairs of all nations in the Western Hemisphere,” said Kaine. “That history is replete with failures, and doubling down on it makes it difficult to make the claim with a straight face that other countries should respect the United States’ sovereignty when we do not do the same.

“Where will this go next?” Kaine continued. “Will the President deploy our troops to protect Iranian protesters? To enforce the fragile ceasefire in Gaza? To battle terrorists in Nigeria? To seize Greenland or the Panama Canal? To suppress Americans peacefully assembling to protest his policies? Trump has threatened to do all this and more and sees no need to seek legal authorization from people’s elected legislature before putting service members at risk.”

Warner, also Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, National Security Committees ranking members, critical of Trump’s recent declaration that the US is ‘in charge’ of Venezuela.

“We strongly condemn President Trump’s announced plans to occupy Venezuela,” reads the joint statement. “We have many urgent needs here at home and President Trump’s statement that ‘we are not afraid of boots on the ground,’ begs for clarity on the risks he plans to take with the lives of American service members.  Having lied to Congress and misled the American people about his goals while spending months preparing to capture Maduro, the administration has to come clean with Congress and our nation about its real plans in Venezuela. The American people deserve answers about what vital interests are at stake and how this advances their security, neither of which this administration has provided.”

Warner joins Schumer in classified briefing on Venezuela operations

In a Jan. 6 press conference, Warner and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer confirmed they attended a two and a half hour classified briefing on the strikes on Jan. 5.

According to Schumer, the number of American troops being set to Venezuela, how long the U.S. will “run” Venezuela, how much the operation will cost and “what country is next” are all unknown. Warner said about 20% of the U.S. fleet is currently stationed off of Venezuela. Warner complimented the work the military did on the operation but emphasized that “every component” of the military was used because the strike “was a military action.”

Schumer said their focus will be the war powers resolution introduced by Kaine, which he expects to come to a vote on Jan. 8. After the strike in Venezuela, Trump said the United States needed Greenland for defense and that regime change in Cuba “is going to be something we’ll end up talking about.” Trump also considered action against Colombia.

“I asked for some assurances that they were not planning operations in other countries, and I named a few … including Colombia and Cuba, and I was very, very disappointed in their answer,” Schumer said in the Jan. 6 press conference.

Schumer declined to comment potentially using the expected upcoming appropriations bill to prevent further military operations without Congressional approval, saying his focus was on the Kaine resolution.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, one in three Americans approve of the military strike to remove Maduro.

Sixth District Representative Ben Cline reacted to Maduro’s capture in a press release issued Jan. 3.

“Protecting our people, securing our border, and dismantling drug trafficking networks is non-negotiable. We will use every lawful tool available to stop this crisis, hold those responsible accountable, defend our sovereignty, and keep American families safe,” said Cline.