The United States’s attack on Venezuela and the purported “capture” of President Nicolas Maduro have drawn heated reactions in Washington, DC, amid months of mounting tensions between the two countries.
Democratic lawmakers have largely condemned US President Donald Trump’s actions on Saturday against the South American country and its leader, saying they violate international law and lack necessary Congressional approval.
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Members of Trump’s Republican Party, meanwhile, have defended the attacks as part of the administration’s push to stem drug trafficking into the US.
Here’s a look at some of the reactions from US lawmakers.
Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib
“Trump’s illegal and unprovoked bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of its president are grave violations of international law and the U.S. Constitution. These are the actions of a rogue state,” Tlaib wrote on social media.
“The American people do not want another regime change war abroad.”
Democratic Senator Andy Kim
The Democratic senator accused US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of lying when they told lawmakers during a Senate briefing last month that the US pressure campaign against Venezuela was not about regime change.
“I didn’t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress,” Kim wrote on X.
“Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war.”
He added that the US strike “doesn’t represent strength” and is not “sound foreign policy”.
“It puts Americans at risk in Venezuela and the region, and it sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government.”
Democratic Congresswoman Betty McCollum
McCollum, the ranking Democrat on the US House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, called on Trump to immediately halt US strikes against Venezuela.
“The actions taken today by the Trump administration are blatantly illegal,” she said in a statement.
“Venezuela poses no imminent national security threat to the United States and Congress has not voted to authorize any use of force in the region.”
She urged Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to call the House of Representatives back into session immediately “to rein in this out-of-control President”.
Democratic Senator Reuben Gallego
“This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year. There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela,” Gallego wrote on X.
Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern
McGovern also raised questions about the lack of Congressional oversight, saying that “without authorization from Congress, and with the vast majority of Americans opposed to military action, Trump just launched an unjustified, illegal strike on Venezuela.”
“He says we don’t have enough money for healthcare for Americans—but somehow we have unlimited funds for war??” the Democratic lawmaker wrote on X.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton
Cotton, a top Trump ally in Congress, hailed the US president as well as US troops and law enforcement officers for an “incredible operation”.
“Nicolas Maduro wasn’t just an illegitimate dictator; he also ran a vast drug-trafficking operation. That’s why he was indicted in U.S. court nearly six years ago for drug trafficking and narco-terrorism,” Cotton wrote on X.
He said he spoke with Rubio, the US secretary of state, who confirmed that Maduro was in US custody and “will face justice for his crimes against our citizens”.
Cotton then appeared to threaten the interim government in Venezuela, saying it needed to “decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world”.
“I urge them to choose wisely,” Cotton wrote.
Republican Senator Mike Lee
Lee, who had been critical of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Venezuela, said Rubio told him that Maduro had been arrested “to stand trial on criminal charges” in the US.
Lee also wrote on social media that Rubio told him the US military action in Venezuela “was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant”.
“This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack,” Lee said in a post on X.
Republican Senator Rick Scott
The Florida senator said “the strikes against and capture of narco-terrorist Nicolas Maduro” were conducted “with a level of professionalism and precision”.
He said they also send a message to the world that Trump “is a man of his word, and the United States will not tolerate terrorists.”
“Maduro was indicted in a U.S. Court and was told to stop sending drugs into our country to kill our kids and grandkids, but he refused. This is peace through strength on full display. Today, America and the world are a safer place,” Scott wrote on X.
US Vice President JD Vance
Vance said that the operation to “capture” Maduro shows that Trump “means what he says”.
“The president offered multiple off ramps, but was very clear throughout this process: the drug trafficking must stop, and the stolen oil must be returned to the United States,” Vance said on social media.
Before Saturday’s attacks, senior Trump administration officials had said Venezuela’s oil belongs to Washington, falsely describing the nationalisation of the South American country’s petroleum industry as “theft”.
In his X post, Vance also addressed the experts, world leaders and US lawmakers who have denounced the administration’s actions against Venezuela as illegal.
“And PSA for everyone saying this was ‘illegal’: Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas,” the US vice president said.
