Top Trump administration officials briefed leading members of Congress on the Venezuela operation on Monday, and lawmakers’ reactions fell along familiar partisan lines.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters the classified briefing, which included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, “posed far more questions than it ever answered.”
“Their plan for the U.S. running Venezuela is vague, based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying,” the New York Democrat said, adding that it’s unclear if similar operations will be tried in other countries.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the operation was a “decisive and justified action,” adding that Maduro led a “criminal organization masquerading as a government.”
“Now, he has learned what accountability looks like,” the Louisiana Republican added.
Some Democrats have argued the operation wasn’t legal because it lacked congressional approval. Schumer said he will push for a vote to block further military action in Venezuela. And Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters: “It seems at every turn, Donald Trump is trying to figure out how he avoids Congress.”
Republicans have largely defended the president. Johnson argued the administration acted within its authority because “we are not at war” and “we are not occupying that country.”
Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters he doesn’t believe the operation needed congressional approval, saying it was limited in scope and “done before breakfast.”
