WASHINGTON — More than a dozen Democratic House members who served in the U.S. military called on their Republican colleagues Wednesday to resist approving additional military operations in Venezuela. Four days after the Trump administration conducted an audacious raid in Caracas that captured President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, they accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of lying about their ultimate goal in the country.
“They told us the goal was not regime change,” Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., said at a news conference Wednesday, referring to a congressional briefing with Rubio and Hegseth before Christmas. “They told us there would be no land attacks. They told us they would come to Congress before doing so because they also understand, or pretended anyway, to understand our Constitution.
“Frankly, the only moment of honesty in all this so far has been when Donald Trump said, ‘This is about oil,’” after Maduro was captured, Ryan told members of the press after a classified briefing with Rubio and Hegseth at the Capitol Wednesday.
The Democrats called on House Republicans to vote on a war powers resolution that would prevent taxpayer money from funding boots on the ground in Venezuela and entering a lengthy war like what happened when the U.S. invaded Iraq and Afghanistan.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., applauded the “precision, effectiveness, professionalism and capacity” of the U.S. military to carry out its capture of Maduro in 2½ hours but insisted the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela.
“The U.S. military operation in Venezuela was decisive and justified,” Johnson said at a news conference Wednesday prior to the Rubio and Hegseth briefing. “Nicolas Maduro was responsible for the deaths of Americans after years of trafficking illegal drugs and violent cartel members into this country. Under President Trump, the U.S. is no longer going to allow criminal regimes to profit from wreaking havoc and destruction on our country.
“To be clear, the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war,” he said, adding that “the Constitution also vests the president with the power as commander in chief that he can use to deploy military forces to address threats to the U.S. and enforce our laws. And that’s what happened here.”
He said the War Powers Act only requires that Congress be notified within 48 hours of an initiation of hostilities but does not require prior approval. He said Rubio had done that when he called Johnson at 4 a.m. to notify him of the raid on Maduro’s residence.
Speaking before heading into the congressional briefing, Rubio said Venezuela’s oil is giving the U.S. “leverage and influence and control” over what Venezuela’s interim authorities can do.
“Obviously, this will be a process of transition,” he said. “In the end, it will be up to the Venezuelan people to transform their country. We are prepared under the right conditions, using the leverage that we have, which includes the fact that they cannot move any oil unless we allow them to move it.”
In its latest move to assert control over Venezuelan oil, the Trump administration on Wednesday seized a pair of sanctioned tankers transporting petroleum and announced plans to “selectively” remove some sanctions so the U.S. can oversee the sale of Venezuela’s petroleum worldwide.
The seizures of the tankers in the north Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea reflect the Republican administration’s determination to enforce an existing oil embargo on Venezuela as Trump has pledged the U.S. will “run” the country following Maduro’s ouster.
“Our military is prepared to continue this,” Hegseth said. “We’re an administration of action to advance our interests, and that is on full display.”
Rubio refuted a reporter’s assertion Wednesday that U.S. actions in Venezuela are costing American taxpayers any money. He said U.S. troops aren’t just sitting around waiting for action.
“They’re deployed somewhere in the world. If they’re not here, they’re somewhere else,” he said, adding that if U.S. military ships were not deployed in the Caribbean, “they’d be somewhere else conducting activity.”
Following Wednesday’s classified briefing with Rubio and Hegseth, Democrats remained concerned. But with Republicans controlling the House by a slim majority, their power is constrained.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said the Democrats intend to conduct oversight “to bring to light the abuses, the egregiousness, the lawlessness of this administration” and to beat Republicans at the ballot box in November.
He added that House Democrats intend to use appropriations and the congressional power of the purse to “restrain irresponsible funding to billions of dollars that are being spent and wasted on things that don’t make Americans’ lives better.”
They also plan to force a vote on the war powers resolution to restrict taxpayer dollars from funding further military operations in Venezuela.
“Maduro’s a bad guy,” said the resolution’s lead author, Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. “There are a lot of bad guys in the world. The operation was successful. Of course it was. But we, as members of Congress and American people, should not be lied to by any administration. And we should all ask the questions about where our tax dollars and where American lives may be spent or wasted next.”
Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., downplayed the idea that the U.S. could take additional military action in Venezuela.
“I think the administration has been really clear that there’s no intention to have boots on the ground,” he said.
However, after the capture of Maduro on Saturday, Trump told reporters, “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground” in Venezuela.
He defended the Trump administration’s decision to let Venezuela’s former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, serve as interim leader, saying it proved that Maduro’s capture was “not about regime change” but “to assist in execution of a legal warrant on criminals.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.