Republicans Rally Around Trump After Classified Venezuela Briefing as Democrats Walk Away With More Questions Than Answers

The typical partisan divide was on full display Monday night after lawmakers emerged from a briefing with top Trump administration officials who traveled to Capitol Hill to answer questions about the future of Venezuela. In the coming weeks, war powers resolutions, committee hearings, and President Trump’s own actions are set to dominate headlines as American officials try to take a heavy hand in the oil-rich nation’s future. It was a full-court press for the administration officials who met with members of Congress in the basement of the Capitol’s visitor center. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Dan Cain, and the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, all answered questions from lawmakers for more than two hours. Speaker Mike Johnson — who learned of the mission to capture Venezuela’s President, Nicolás Maduro, only after it had happened — praised the administration for the decision to swiftly arrest him. “The U.S. military operation in Venezuela was a decisive and justified action. Nicolás Maduro is responsible for the deaths of untold thousands of Americans,” Mr. Johnson told reporters after the briefing. “Now, he has learned what accountability has looked like.”The speaker said he fully supports the decision to act on the indictment which was levied against Mr. Maduro more than five years ago. The deposed Venezuelan president has pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday and is now being housed at a jail in Brooklyn. Because this was a law enforcement operation — which is what the administration is arguing — Mr. Johnson says President Trump was well within his rights as commander-in-chief to use the military to capture Mr. Maduro even though Congress has not voted to explicitly grant him the power to launch a military incursion. “Despite the claims by some of my colleagues, under the War Powers Act, there is no requirement for prior congressional approval or prior notification,” Mr. Johnson said. Senator Chuck Schumer, who as the Senate minority leader was included in the briefing, said the briefing “posed far more questions than it ever answered.”“Their plan for the U.S. ‘running Venezuela’ is vague, based on wishful thinking, and unsatisfying,” Mr. Schumer said. “I did not receive any assurances that we would not try to do the same thing in other countries.”The briefing on Monday was limited to a relatively small group of lawmakers, including Republicans and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, as well as members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, the House and Senate Armed Services Committee, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Senate Committee on Foreign relations. All told, just about 100 lawmakers were invited to attend — less than one-fifth of the total membership of Congress. Because this was, in the administration’s telling, a law enforcement operation, at least one bipartisan duo was displeased that they were excluded from the briefing — the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senators Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin. “The Senate Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over DOJ, FBI and DEA, and all three agencies are led by individuals who our Committee vetted and processed. The Attorney General herself will be present at today’s briefing,” the senators wrote before the briefing began. “There is no legitimate basis for excluding the Senate Judiciary Committee from this briefing,” they argued. A briefing for all members of Congress is expected to take place later this week.

Republicans Rally Around Trump After Classified Venezuela Briefing as Democrats Walk Away With More Questions Than Answers

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