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House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats have condemned President Donald Trump and his administration’s push for regime change in Venezuela after the president unilaterally declared the U.S. is engaged in “armed conflict” with the country last week.
“Trump and [Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco] Rubio are pushing for regime change in Venezuela,” the account for the Democratic committee members posted on social media on Tuesday.
“The American people don’t want another war — and Congress can’t let any president start one illegally or unilaterally. That’s not how the Constitution works,” the group added.
Rubio has been leading the effort for regime change, the New York Times reported late last month.
The push for regime change would involve a “broad campaign that would escalate military pressure to try to force” out Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Times reported. Administration officials have said that U.S. forces have struck four vessels in the Caribbean that they claim originated from Venezuela over the past weeks, killing 21 people so far. These strikes have been roundly condemned by human rights experts as illegal.
Trump administration officials have, indeed, been steadily escalating their rhetoric against the country. Last week, Trump reportedly sent a memo to Congress saying that he has “determined” that the U.S. “is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations.” It added that he has directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.”
Additionally, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee highlighted that U.S. officials say the Trump administration has cut off diplomatic relations with the country amid an effort for a negotiated diplomatic agreement.
U.S. officials allege that Maduro is a leader of “narco-terrorists,” citing an indictment against him issued during Trump’s first term. However, the U.S. has not provided any evidence of this claim, and the National Intelligence Council has released an assessment saying that the Maduro government does not lead the Tren de Aragua gang as administration officials have claimed.
Democratic leaders have largely stayed quiet about Trump effectively declaring war without the permission of Congress. In fact, some senior Democrats are reportedly warning fellow members against opposing Trump’s war, saying that it would be tantamount to throwing their support behind Maduro.
Some Senate Democrats are reportedly seeking to force a vote on a war powers resolution, introduced last month by Senators Adam Schiff (D-California) and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), in an attempt to bar Trump from using further force against Venezuela this week.
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Jack Reed (Rhode Island), sharply condemned Trump’s “armed conflict” declaration last week.
“Every American should be alarmed that the President believes he can wage secret wars against anyone he chooses. Congress alone has the constitutional power to decide when America goes to war. The President cannot launch military campaigns and invent legal cover after the fact,” he said in a statement on Friday. “The Administration must immediately testify before Congress and the American people about this reckless campaign.”
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