House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pushed back Sunday on the Trump administration’s justification for capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“There’s been no evidence that the administration has presented to justify the actions that were taken in terms of there being an imminent threat to the health, the safety, the well-being, the national security of the American people,” Jeffries told host Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The New York Democrat added that the operation, which resulted in Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, being taken into custody and transported to a federal detention center in Brooklyn, N.Y., amounted to “an act of war.”
President Trump told reporters Saturday that capturing Maduro was necessary to stop the flow of drugs and gangs into the U.S., as well as the transport of sanctioned oil from Venezuela. He added that Maduro threatened regional security by allying with the likes of China, Russia and Iran.
The president also said that the U.S. will “run [Venezuela] until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” noting that American oil companies will “fix” the South American nation’s petroleum infrastructure. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world.
Jeffries expressed skepticism at how effective such a strategy will be, saying that Trump’s track record indicates that “it remains to be seen whether the people of Venezuela are going to be better off.”
“He’s done a terrible job running the United States of America,” he claimed. “Life hasn’t gotten better for the American people over the last year; life has gotten worse.”
The operation to capture Maduro was met with praise from GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill and anger from Democrats, who lamented that Congress was not consulted beforehand. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio argued Saturday that doing so would have jeopardized the mission.
Jeffries said Sunday that once Congress returns to session next week, it must take action “to ensure that no further military steps occur absent explicit congressional approval” with regard to Venezuela.