Tracking congressional criticism of Trump's attack on Venezuela

Republicans

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

“If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

"Mexican cartels are primarily and overwhelmingly responsible for killing Americans with deadly drugs.

If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?

And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America? Ironically cocaine is the same drug that Venezuela primarily traffics into the U.S. [...]

Regime change, funding foreign wars, and American’s tax dollars being consistently funneled to foreign causes, foreigners both home and abroad, and foreign governments while Americans are consistently facing increasing cost of living, housing, healthcare, and learn about scams and fraud of their tax dollars is what has most Americans enraged. Especially the younger generations. Boomers and half of Gen X will cheer on neocon wars and talking points, but the other half of Gen X and majority on down see through it and hate it. [...]

This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end.

Boy were we wrong."

Democrats

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)

"The administration has assured me three separate times that it was not pursuing regime change or taking military action in Venezuela. Clearly, they are not being straight with Americans.

The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.

The administration must brief Congress immediately on its objectives, and its plan to prevent a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster that plunges us into another endless war or one that trades one corrupt dictator for another."

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.)

"Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn’t about regime change. I didn’t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress. Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war.

This strike doesn't represent strength. It's not sound foreign policy. It puts Americans at risk in Venezuela and the region, and it sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government. This will further damage our reputation – already hurt by Trump’s policies around the world – and only isolate us in a time when we need our friends and allies more than ever."

"Americans across the political spectrum must reject Trump’s plan for the U.S. to 'run the country' of Venezuela.

This is a disastrous plan. We have seen this show before and it did not end well."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

"Trump’s attack on Venezuela will make the United States and the world less safe. This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their resources or change their governments. This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine.

Trump and his administration have often said they want to revive the Monroe Doctrine, claiming the United States has the right to dominate the affairs of the hemisphere. They have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world. This is rank imperialism. It recalls the darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a terrible legacy. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world.

Trump campaigned for president on an “America First” platform. He claimed to be the “peace candidate.” At a time when 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, when our healthcare system is collapsing, when people cannot afford housing and when AI threatens millions of jobs, it is time for the president to focus on the crises facing this country and end this military adventurism abroad. Trump is failing in his job to “run” the United States. He should not be trying to “run” Venezuela."

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.)

"The Constitution is unambiguous: Congress has the power and responsibility to authorize the use of military force and declare war. Congress has a duty of oversight. Congress must serve as a check, not a rubber stamp, to the President. On this count, Congress has failed. [...]

What happened today is wrong. Congressional Republicans would say so immediately if a Democratic president had done the same. Their silence is surrender. And in that surrender lie the seeds of our democratic unraveling. [...]

Congress has failed. But it is not too late to redeem the harm done by a year of submission and silence. Congress must act now. It must reassert its constitutional authority, restore the rule of law, and stop this president before further injury is done to our democracy and our republic."

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)

"President Trump thinks he is above the law. He steals from taxpayers. He thumbs his nose at the law.

And now, he is starting an illegal war with Venezuela that Americans didn’t ask for and has nothing to do with our security. How does going to war in South America help regular Americans who are struggling? How does this do anything about drugs entering the U.S. when Venezuela produces no fentanyl? What is the actual security threat to the United States? And happens next in Venezuela? [...]

This is about satisfying Trump’s vanity, making good on the long standing neocon grudge against Maduro, enriching Trump’s oil industry backers, and distracting voters from Epstein and rising costs."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

"The American people did not ask for this act of war to bring about regime change in Venezuela — nor did Congress authorize it. President Trump has put our troops in harms's way, and he has not provided a clear, fact-based rationale for these actions, nor the long-term strategy following these strikes. This Administration owes the American people and the Congress immediate answers. This act of war is a grave abuse of power by the President. [...] This is not about demolishing a dictatorship, as we've seen Trump cozy up to dictators around the world. This is about trying to grab Venezuela's oil for Trump's billionaire buddies."

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)

"Our Constitution places the gravest decisions about the use of military force in the hands of Congress for a reason. Using military force to enact regime change demands the closest scrutiny, precisely because the consequences do not end with the initial strike.

If the United States asserts the right to use military force to invade and capture foreign leaders it accuses of criminal conduct, what prevents China from claiming the same authority over Taiwan’s leadership? What stops Vladimir Putin from asserting similar justification to abduct Ukraine’s president? Once this line is crossed, the rules that restrain global chaos begin to collapse, and authoritarian regimes will be the first to exploit it. [...]

America’s strength comes from our commitment to the rule of law, democratic norms, and constitutional restraint. 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."

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.)

"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. 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? Will the President deploy our troops to protect Iranian protestors? 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 servicemembers at risk.

It is long past time for Congress to reassert its critical constitutional role in matters of war, peace, diplomacy and trade. 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."

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)

"Acting without Congressional approval or the buy-in of the public, Trump risks plunging a hemisphere into chaos and has broken his promise to end wars instead of starting them. And in conjunction with his continued saber-rattling around the world and dropping approval ratings at home, the American people should be concerned that this is not the last time he will break that promise.

The President has vowed that this is not the end of our engagement in Venezuela, saying that ‘we'll be involved in it very much.’ Congress must bring up a new War Powers Resolution and reassert its power to authorize force or to refuse to do so. We must speak for the American people who profoundly reject being dragged into new wars."

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.)

"Let's be clear. Nicolas Maduro is an illegitimate leader. But using the U.S. military to attempt regime change in a sovereign foreign nation, without approval from Congress, without a defined objective or plan for the day after, and without support from our allies, risks entangling the United States in an open-ended conflict in Venezuela that could destabilize the entire region. This action is also a violation of international law and further undermines America's global standing.

Congress must reassert its constitutional role before this escalation leads to greater instability, chaos, and unnecessary risk to American lives."

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.)

"Congress did not authorize this war. Venezuela posed no imminent threat to the United States. This is reckless, elective regime change risking American lives (Iraq 2.0) with no plan for the day after. Wars cost more than trophies."

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas)

"Trump risked the lives of American troops and killed at least 40 people in Venezuela in pursuit of oil and profit.

Congress must stop this reckless and illegal regime change war."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

"Venezuela is ruled by an illegitimate regime, but the Administration has not made the case that an urgent threat to America’s national security existed to justify the use of U.S. military force.

President Trump has made no secret of his intentions to effectively abolish the Congress, and that pattern continues today with his flagrant disregard for the Article One war powers of Congress which is essential to our constitutional system of checks and balances. [...]

Congress must be fully and immediately briefed on the strikes and regime change in Venezuela, the objectives and extent of this operation, and how the Administration intends to prevent further regional fallout."

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)

"Donald Trump betrayed his MAGA base today launching a war of choice to bring regime change in Venezuela.

We keep voting against dumb wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, & Libya.

But our Presidents bow to a foreign policy blob committed to militarism. They get us entangled in conflicts abroad, while ignoring the lack of good jobs and high costs for Americans at home."

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.)

"Kidnapping President Maduro in a regime change operation won’t help protect the American people. It won’t actually mitigate drug trafficking in the United States: Venezuela plays virtually no role in producing or trafficking fentanyl.

Instead, this military operation violates both domestic and international law, risks blowback and retaliation on U.S. service members and the American people, and entangles the United States in yet another costly and unnecessary war by the President who campaigned on ending them.

President Trump has learned absolutely nothing from past foreign policy failures. In fact, he is now repeating the worst of them: championing the same neoconservative arguments that led to the invasion of Iraq and toppling of Gaddafi. [...]

I strongly urge President Trump to abstain from further unauthorized actions and any occupation of Venezuela. Next week, the Senate will vote on a resolution to block U.S. military action against Venezuela absent authorization by Congress, and the House must do the same.

And the American people deserve answers, so Congress must be briefed by Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hegseth, and our intelligence leaders as soon as possible."

Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.)

"As today’s events have shown, governments bent around the authority of a single man are weak.

Our Constitution is clear that no President can act unilaterally to drag our nation into a long-term foreign entanglement. Congress needs to act like a coequal branch of government. China and Russia are watching, and hoping Congress keeps up its reflexively partisan, short sighted behavior."

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)

"It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month.

It’s about oil and regime change.

And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs."

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.)

"Without authorization from Congress, and with the vast majority of Americans opposed to military action, Trump just launched an unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela.

He says we don’t have enough money for healthcare for Americans—but somehow we have unlimited funds for war??"

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.)

"I commanded Marines in Latin America – they deserve a commander in chief operating lawfully and strategically. The president has no authority to strike Venezuela, no strategy for a democratic transition, and no credibility that he won't just pardon the criminal Maduro like he did the Honduran president. After voting No in December, Republicans in Congress must now join Democrats to grab hold the steering wheel of Venezuela policy to prevent this capture from spiraling into a blood for oil war."

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)

"What the hell is going on? Trump has supposedly abducted President Maduro and his wife and brought them to the United States for trial, supposedly for drug trafficking and bringing drugs to the United States. It was just a few weeks ago when Trump pardoned one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world, Juan Orlando Hernández, the former President of Honduras, who had been convicted by the Biden Administration and was serving a sentence of 45 years in prison. What is this? Is this about regime change? Is this about oil? Or is this a power play to continue to send a message around the world that Trump is all-powerful and he is headed towards dictatorship in our country?"

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.)

"The US Constitution vests the power to declare war in Congress. No single individual has the authority to commit the nation to a war of regime change without congressional authorization.

Power cannot replace principle. Nor can the ends justify the means. In a constitutional republic, the rule of law must prevail over an act of raw military might.

History warns that wars of regime change—even when well-intentioned—can unleash unintended consequences that produce more instability than they prevent."

Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.)

"Let there be no mistake, President Trump has started a war in Venezuela, without any Congressional approval, and in violation of the Constitution.

Over the past 2 decades, we have learned the hard way that wars are easy to start and hard to finish. A plan rarely survives first contact. Having served in Iraq, I’ve seen this first hand.

Trump is wrong to start a war in Venezuela. It is not what the American people want, it is not putting America first, and it is not worth American blood and treasure."

Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.)

"I have some simple questions for every politician cheerleading and beating the drum for an unnecessary war in Venezuela: If, God forbid, brave Americans come home in body bags, will you look their grieving families in the eyes and tell them their sacrifice was worth it?

If American troops come home with lost limbs and so many other wounds, will you face them and tell them it was worth it? Will you send your kids?"