Politics
Reps. Casten, Jackson Condemn Trump Administration Attack on Venezuela and Capture of Nicolás Maduro
The Trump administration captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife early Saturday.
The operation followed months of airstrikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea from Venezuela and a Trump administration pressure campaign to oust Maduro.
Administration officials say Maduro’s capture was a law enforcement action that merely used military resources and therefore did not require congressional approval, referencing a drug trafficking indictment issued by the Department of Justice in March.
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Chicago’s western and southwestern suburbs, said Monday that some Democrats were briefed before the new year on U.S. strikes on boats but not on any operation to capture Maduro.
“They (administration officials) made it very clear that this was purely to attack boats in international waters — they did not make any mention of actually invading a sovereign nation, much less kidnapping the president and his wife,” Casten said.
The 1980 Intelligence Oversight Act requires the president to brief the “Gang of Eight” — party leaders from both chambers and the top Democrats and Republicans on the intelligence committees — in advance of “any significant anticipated intelligence activity.” Those lawmakers were instead briefed Monday afternoon, though some Republicans were briefed earlier, Casten said.
“We were told that the White House had reached out to some degree to a few Republicans in advance,” Casten said. “The Constitution doesn’t say that you only give your party notification, it says you give Congress notification. So Congress is still very much in the dark on this operation.”
In response to the operation, a group of senators led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are pushing a war powers resolution that would bar further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval.
U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Chicago’s South Side and south suburbs, said he was concerned about the precedent the attack on Venezuela could set.
“If this is the world of might is right, then that means the larger army of the Russians can go take Ukraine and take land,” Jackson said. “That means Saddam Hussein had the right to go into Iraq and Kuwait and say that was his 19th province. That means China can go into Taiwan. That means the United States can claim the land of the Venezuelan people and say it’s our oil.”
Trump said Saturday that American oil companies would soon enter Venezuela, which holds about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves. He also cited Cuba and Colombia as Western Hemisphere nations that could soon face U.S. military action.
Jackson said sustained U.S. military intervention in Latin America would be an improper use of federal funds.
“Who’s going to pay for this? This is an appropriation that they skirted around. This thing easily cost $1-2 billion,” Jackson said. “He’s going to start this precedent and threaten the government of Cuba, the government of Colombia.”
At an emergency UN Security Council meeting Monday morning, representatives of Russia and China condemned the U.S. attack as a violation of international law and national sovereignty. Casten levied the same criticism.
“It is true that Maduro was indicted in U.S. courts,” Casten said. “That does not give any law enforcement agency the jurisdiction to go into another country. International law is pretty clear. You either need to go to the UN Security Council and get approval. The alternative is if you have an imminent military threat to your country, none of those conditions were present.”
Republican members of Congress from Illinois did not reply to requests to appear on “Chicago Tonight.”
