WASHINGTON — Pres. Donald Trump’s invasion of Venezuela and the kidnapping of its president and his wife drew swift and harsh rebukes from area members of Congress, who branded the military action as “regime change,” a “rogue attack” and an unauthorized act of war.
On Friday night, the United States carried out a major military operation in Venezuela, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during the overnight raid in Caracas and removing them from the country. They were scheduled to land in New York Saturday afternoon to face federal charges related to narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, Trump said in a press conference from his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Trump announced that the United States would temporarily “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition” of government. He also indicated that the U.S. plans to tap into and protect Venezuela’s oil reserves.
Mass. lawmakers say action is ‘regime change’
Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Westford, acknowledged Maduro’s record of repression while criticizing the administration’s actions.
“Maduro is a dictator whose brutal, antidemocratic rule has brought immense suffering to the Venezuelan people,” she said. “His repression and corruption are well documented and deserve condemnation. Acknowledging that reality does not justify the Trump administration bypassing Congress, putting our brave service men and women in harm’s way, or spending billions of taxpayer dollars on regime change in South America.”
Trahan said Trump’s actions come as Americans struggle with the “skyrocketing” costs of healthcare, groceries and utilities.
She added, “Congress must be briefed immediately on the legal justification for this attack, the cost to American taxpayers, and the administration’s strategy and path forward in Venezuela and across the region.”
Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Salem, agreed with Trahan, noting in a posting on the social media platform X that “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.”
Sen. Ed Markey, also a Massachusetts Democrat, echoed Moulton’s statement, claiming that “Trump had no approval from Congress for this unjustified, unauthorized attack on Venezuela. This is what dictators do. We cannot stand idly by while Donald Trump conducts rogue attacks that put American lives further at risk.”
He added: “We’ve seen this movie before. Trump’s already failed to manage the American economy, yet he wants to manage Venezuela and its oil infrastructure. And now, Trump broke Venezuela and says he will fix it. This was all about regime change and all about oil. This has nothing to do with our security and everything to do with Trump’s desire to rule with an iron fist. This is not America First – this is Authoritarianism First.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also questioned the operation in a posting on X.
“President Trump’s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro — no matter how terrible a dictator he is — is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region,” she wrote. “What does it mean that the U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela, and what will Trump do next around the world? The American people voted for lower costs, not for Trump’s dangerous military adventurism overseas that won’t make the American people safer.”
NH Congressional delegation hammers Trump
New Hampshire lawmakers also weighed in on the invasion, with Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan commenting that “the people of New Hampshire do not want to be dragged into another foreign war, especially by a President who has failed to articulate a clear strategy or purpose for attacking a sovereign nation and, in so doing, destabilizing much of the Western Hemisphere and calling into question our country’s commitment to a rules-based international order.”
She added that the “Constitution vests the power to declare war in Congress to ensure that the American people have a voice in deciding whether to put our service members and our country at risk. The President needs to provide information about how he plans to deal with the instability that this action creates and what comes next. In the meantime, I am praying for the service members who were injured in this operation and for the brave men and women who serve in our armed forces around the world.”
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump’s actions “risk broader insecurity in the region, including the migration of millions more refugees fleeing for the U.S. and other countries, like Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, that are already overwhelmed by the drug crisis. If the President is confident that today’s military action will not result in unintended consequences for Americans, he should be honest with our country about his reasoning and next steps.
“I urge the Trump Administration to immediately brief Congress on these actions when the Senate returns to Washington on Monday — if not, sooner.”
New Hampshire Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander, a former Naval Intelligence Officer for over a decade and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, noted that while residents in the Granite State “are feeling the pain of a full-blown affordability crisis … President Trump is focused on running another country.”
She added that his address to the nation about the attack “leaves the American people with more concerns and questions than answers.”
Congressman Chris Pappas lauded the “bravery of our American service members involved in this operation” while also noting that Maduro was a “repressive dictator propped up by his authoritarian allies in Moscow and Beijing.
“However, a military operation of this kind done without Congressional approval sets a dangerous precedent for our own country and could lead to greater instability around the world. This administration must come to Congress immediately to explain its actions and its strategy to protect our national security. America cannot be once again embroiled in an endless nation building exercise and foreign war.”