Delaware
How DE delegation is responding to US military action in Venezuela
US military seizes Venezuela’s Maduro in ‘large scale’ operation
The United States seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife in an overnight military operation.
Delaware’s congressional delegation condemned the overnight military strikes in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3.
Following the capture of Venezuela’s president and his wife, President Donald Trump told reporters the U.S. would “run” Venezuela.
Trump didn’t rule out having the military contribute to running the country, but said U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will run the country alongside Venezuelan leaders, USA TODAY reported.
Rubio said the administration did not notify members of Congress about the strike ahead of time.
Trump stated Maduro and his wife will be taken to New York to face charges of drug trafficking in an indictment.
Delaware’s congressional delegation, all Democrats, expressed criticism of the Trump administration’s actions and questioned the legal authority to intervene without congressional approval.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, called the military action “incoherent” and an “illegal” operation in a statement on Jan. 3, criticizing the Trump administration for not notifying members of Congress until after the strike had concluded.
“The Trump administration owes our country transparency and a clear strategy,” Coons said in the statement. “The administration must promptly brief Congress on its plan to ensure stability in Venezuela and the region, its legal basis for this action, and its plans for any further use of military force. Our Constitution requires the administration to seek congressional approval, in the form of an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, before they take any further action to commit U.S. troops or take military strikes against Venezuela.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester said in a statement on social media that the president carried out the operation without congressional approval because he knew Congress wouldn’t approve it.
“If this continues, nothing stops him from sending American troops around the world to carry out his own reckless foreign policy decisions, which thus far have already negatively impacted our standing on the global stage and continue to erode further the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution,” Blunt Rochester said in the statement.
“The administration must immediately brief Congress on its legal justification for this decision and its plan going forward,” Blunt Rochester added. “Congress must take action on Senator Kaine’s bipartisan war powers resolution to prevent further escalation.”
In a statement on X, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride said the Trump administration routinely ignores the Constitution and misleads Congress.
“I have fidelity to our Constitution even if I do not have sympathy for Nicolás Maduro,” McBride stated.
McBride criticized the actions. “At a minimum, these individual actions legally and substantively demand Congressional action and public consultation,” she said on X. “But collectively, the military operations we have seen in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and, now, on land in Venezuela, present a significant escalation of unilateral action that betrays a larger goal by this administration. Beyond arguments for or against any individual action, the Trump Administration is clearly seeking to remake the global order in a way that will, ultimately, benefit authoritarians and adversaries.”
“Our values and principles as a nation matter most when we have seemingly altruistic reasons to violate them. I oppose a ‘might makes right in my neighborhood’ foreign policy. It is amoral, illegal, dangerous, and lays the foundation for bad actors like Russia and China,” she added.
Coons added in his statements that the president lacks a clear plan for what comes next for Venezuela.
“This raid risks creating more instability in the region, putting U.S. service members and civilians in the hemisphere at risk, and dividing us further from our regional partners,” he said.
Sophia Voight is a growth and development reporter. Reach her with feedback and story tips at svoight@delawareonline.com.