Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defended the Trump administration Monday for not consulting Congress ahead of its operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
The administration notified the “Gang of Eight” — which includes Thune, Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and the chairs and ranking members on the Senate and House Intelligence committees — after the operation began.
They didn’t tell me ahead of time, but I think there’s a reason why, like I said before, notification of Congress in the hands of really critical and hypersensitive missions to me, seems ill-advised anyway,” he continued.
“This is an operation that did not require prior consent of Congress [or] prior authorization of Congress,” Johnson told reporters. “It required notification of Congress.”
The Louisiana Republican added that the operation was justified under Article II of the Constitution, which grants the president the authority to “protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said Saturday on the social platform X.
The U.S. captured Maduro and his wife in the early-morning hours Saturday. The two pleaded not guilty Monday to narco-terrorism and weapons-related charges in Manhattan federal court.
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