\n<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump, followed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, arrives to speak at Mar-a-Lago after announcing that US military forces had captured Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.<\/span>Alex Brandon\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Democratic members<\/span> of the Committee on Armed Services, which helps oversee the nation\u2019s military,<\/span> denounced President Donald Trump\u2019s announcement<\/a> on Saturday that United States military forces struck Venezuela and captured the nation\u2019s president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump did not seek congressional authority for the attack and said at a press conference that the US is \u201cgoing to run the country.\u201d\u00a0Trump\u2019s decision to move ahead without congressional approval may be a violation of the US constitution and amount to a criminal act, according to legal experts.<\/a> <\/p>\n Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona and a veteran who served as a combat pilot and flew dozens of\u00a0 missions in the Gulf War with Iraq, said<\/a> in a statement that Trump \u201cdoesn\u2019t understand the risks and costs involved with these poorly thought-out decisions that don\u2019t make Americans any safer today than they were yesterday.\u201d Maduro, he added, \u201cis a brutal, illegitimate dictator who deserves to face justice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI want the people of Venezuela to be free to choose their own future,\u201d Kelly continued, \u201cbut if we learned anything from the Iraq war, it\u2019s that dropping bombs or toppling a leader doesn\u2019t guarantee democracy, stability, or make Americans safer.\u201d<\/p>\n In the early hours of Saturday, according to Trump, US military forces \u201csuccessfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader\u201d in an operation \u201cdone in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement.\u201d The operation included a strike on Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, in the middle of the night. Early reports from Venezuelan officials and journalists indicate that there were civilian casualties<\/a>.<\/p>\n During a press conference at Mar-a-Lago hours later, President Trump said the US would not hesitate to attack again, and signaled an indefinite occupation of Venezuela. During that address, Trump defended his decision to skirt congressional approval, saying that \u201cCongress has a tendency to leak.\u201d He has also neglected to get approval from Congress for the dozens of known<\/a> strikes in South American waters against boats that the administration says are filled with drug smugglers. Those strikes have killed at least 115 people.<\/p>\n Other Democratic senators on the Armed Services Committee decried the Trump administration\u2019s latest escalation in their ongoing military operation against Venezuela.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is ludicrous,\u201d Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the committee, said<\/a> in a statement. He added that no plan has been presented for what the costs the US will have to bear to \u201crun\u201d Venezuela, as Trump has described. Reed, a decorated veteran and former West Point faculty member, continued, \u201cHistory offers no shortage of warnings about the costs \u2013 human, strategic, and moral\u2014of assuming we can govern another nation by force.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro\u2014no matter how terrible a dictator he is\u2014is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region,\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wrote<\/a> on X. <\/p>\n Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran and Purple Heart recipient, wrote<\/a> on X that Trump\u2019s \u201cactions continue putting American troops, personnel and citizens at risk both in the region and around the globe.\u201d \u201cNone of that,\u201d the Illinois representative added, \u201cserves our nation\u2019s interests.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wrote in a series of posts<\/a> on X, \u201cMaduro is a cruel criminal dictator, but President Trump has never sought approval from Congress for war as the Constitution requires\u2014& our military deserves.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n