Republican Sen. James Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the administration should have notified the Gang of Eight before the operation in Venezuela over the weekend, citing previous major operations where they were kept in the loop.
The Gang of Eight consists of the majority and minority leaders in the House and Senate, as well as the chairs and vice chairs of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. They are receiving a briefing this evening.
“Yeah, there should have been notification,” said Lankford.
“It’s a good thing for Maduro to be gone and him to be in federal prison,” he noted, adding “but the Gang of Eight should have been notified.”
“They haven’t leaked in the past, they were notified when they were getting ready to be able to drop ordinance on Iran. So there’s a normal process,” said Lankford.
Another Intel Republican, Sen. Mike Rounds, said he wants to know why the Gang of Eight was not notified ahead of time.
“I think one of the questions that will be asked by others will be, at what point does the Gang of Eight have a role to play in receiving advanced notice?” he said, adding “yeah” he wants to know the answer.
“I’ll just simply say, with regard to the Gang of Eight, we will, we will let them answer it themselves.”
GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that she wants “clarification” on President Trump’s claim that the US will “run” Venezuela moving forward.
“I think it needs clarification. And I think you see the Secretary of State, Rubio, working to clarify it, others,” she said. “I think what it means is that we will have our hand on the till of what’s going on in this successional — as a succession government, legitimate government, there and prevent any kind of reenact— reincarnation of a narco terrorist, cartel-loving, illegitimately elected president.”
However, several Republican senators were comfortable with the Gang of Eight not being notified before the operation, arguing that the risk of a leak was too high, despite the group not having a history of leaking.
“I wouldn’t have done it. I mean, it would have leaked,” said Sen. John Kennedy. “Manu, come on, this place leaks like the Titanic, and it gets worse every day,” he added, noting, “Congress brought it upon themselves.”
Sen. Thom Tillis agreed. “It only took 1/8 of that group to potentially compromise the operation, and American soldiers’ lives are more important than me or any other member knowing at the moment. They did inform leadership shortly thereafter, and I’m ok with that.”