By Joseph Lord and Nathan Worcester
WASHINGTON—Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday briefed lawmakers on the operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters after the briefing: “The U.S. military operation in Venezuela was a decisive and justified action. Nicolás Maduro is responsible for the deaths of untold thousands of Americans.”
The briefing was delivered to the so-called Gang of Eight—comprising the House speaker, House minority leader, Senate majority leader, and Senate minority leader, as well as the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees—and other lawmakers in the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) of the Capitol.
It centered around the Jan. 3 early morning operation in and around Caracas that resulted in the capture of both Maduro and his wife, and included a series of airstrikes on strategic targets, including infrastructure, ports, cell towers, and more.
Since then, Maduro has been charged in the United States with narco-terrorism and a series of other charges that carry a life sentence in federal prison if he’s convicted. He’s currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after an initial arraignment Monday.
Like Johnson, other Republicans have been supportive of the action, describing it as a law enforcement operation assisted by the military. Democrats, meanwhile, have criticized the move as an overreach of U.S. military authority.
Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said that the briefing went “well, very well.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) gave a different take in his brief remarks to the press.
“This briefing, while very extensive and long, posed far more questions than it ever answered,” Schumer said.
He described the current U.S. plan for temporarily running Venezuela as “vague, based on wishful thinking, and unsatisfying.”
Currently, the nation’s interim leader is Delcy Rodriguez, who was originally Venezuela’s vice president.
However, U.S. officials have made clear that the U.S. is overseeing the transition period, and has the final say on governance of the region for the time being.
Schumer also said the briefing left it unclear whether the U.S. is planning similar activities in other nations.
“I asked for, I would have liked to, I did not receive any assurances that we would not try to do the same thing in other countries,” Schumer said.
In comments to reporters, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) said the operation “was a specific law enforcement function.”
“That’s what was conducted. … It was lawful, and law enforcement, lawful. Law enforcement functions will take place in the future.”
Johnson said the U.S. operation was legal under the War Powers Act, which restricts the president’s authority over the military to require greater congressional input.
“These are crimes for which he’s been indicted in U.S. courts and an arrest warrant was duly issued, and now he has learned what accountability looks like,” Johnson said.
“With regard to the War Powers and the compliance with federal law, we are not at war. We do not have U.S. armed forces in Venezuela, and we are not occupying that country.”
“This is not a regime change,” Johnson said, adding that it’s instead aimed at changing a regime’s behavior.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) disagreed.
“What’s clear is that the administration took military action without congressional approval,” Jeffries said. “It was military action, not a law enforcement action, despite what members of the administration are claiming right now.”
Aside from Hegseth and Rubio, the briefing was attended by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman.
