House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) criticized President Trump on Monday over the U.S. attack on Venezuela, calling it an “unprecedented” action that lacked both legal authorization and practical justification.
Speaking at the Capitol, Jeffries said the Jan. 2 operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife was not a simple law enforcement action, as the administration claimed, but a complex military mission that required — and did not receive — congressional approval.
“This wasn’t a law enforcement action. They’re lying to the American people when they say that,” Jeffries said. “It was an unprecedented military action.”
Jeffries said he considers Maduro a “bad guy” and “dictator” who oppressed Venezuelans for more than a decade, but argued that it did not amount to a direct threat justifying unilateral military action without Congress. He added that Trump ordered the strike not to stop a “narcoterrorist,” as claimed, but to help U.S. oil companies gain control of Venezuela’s oil reserves.
“The American people reject the possibility of another unjustified foreign war that seems to be on the horizon because of Trump’s desire to reward big oil,” he said.
As evidence, Jeffries cited Trump’s recent pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been serving a 45-year federal sentence for smuggling more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.
“[Hernandez] said he wanted to jam cocaine down the nostrils of the gringos. And this is the person that Donald Trump pardoned?” Jeffries said. “And the American people are now supposed to believe that this whole situation that has unfolded in Venezuela has anything to do with a counternarcotics operation? Get lost.”
The U.S. attack on Venezuela has reignited debate over which branch has the authority to launch military action abroad. While the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, Trump officials have framed the Caracas raid as a “law enforcement” operation to avoid seeking congressional approval. That approach has angered Democrats and some libertarian Republicans, who are backing a war powers resolution requiring congressional authorization for further strikes. The measure is expected to fail in the Senate and has little chance in the GOP-controlled House, though Jeffries supports it. Democrats have also floated using the upcoming defense spending bill to limit Trump’s military actions in Venezuela, an option Jeffries neither endorsed nor ruled out.
Jeffries: “The American people are supposed to believe that this whole situation that has unfolded in Venezuela has anything to do with a counter-narcotics operation? Get lost.” pic.twitter.com/wNC6j5nRps
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 5, 2026
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