US congressional leaders briefed on Venezuela as questions mount over next steps
During a closed-door session in Washington, politicans were briefed by top officials.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed political leaders in Congress late on Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela.
It comes amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of US expansionism without consultation of politicians or a clear vision for running the South American country.
Republican leaders entered the closed-door session at the Capitol largely supportive of Mr Trump’s decision to forcibly remove Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro from power.
Many Democrats emerged with more questions as Mr Trump maintains a fleet of naval vessels off the Venezuelan coast and urges US companies to reinvest in the country’s underperforming oil industry.
A war powers resolution that would prohibit US military action in Venezuela without approval from Congress is heading for a vote this week in the Senate.
“We don’t expect troops on the ground,” said House of Representative speaker Mike Johnson.
He said Venezuela’s new leadership cannot be allowed to engage in narcoterrorism or the trafficking of drugs into the US, which sparked Mr Trump’s initial campaign of boat strikes that have killed more than 115 people.
“This is not a regime change. This is a demand for a change in behaviour,” Mr Johnson said.
“We don’t expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the new, the interim government, to get that going.
“We have a way of persuasion — because their oil exports as you know have been seized, and I think that will bring the country to a new governance in very short order.”
But senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said: “There are still many more questions that need to be answered.”
“What is the cost? How much is this going to cost the United States of America?” Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said after the briefing.
The briefing, which stretched for two hours, came days after the surprise military action that few, if any, of the congressional leaders knew about until after it was underway.
Administration officials fielded a range of questions — from further involvement of US troops on the ground to the role of the Venezuelan opposition leadership that appeared to have been sidelined by the Mr Trump administration as the country’s vice president, Mr Maduro’s ally Delcy Rodriguez, swiftly became the country’s interim president.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Air Force general Dan Caine and attorney general Pam Bondi, who brought drug trafficking charges against Mr Maduro, all joined the classified session.
It was intended for the so-called “gang of eight” leaders, which includes Intelligence Committee leadership as well as the chairmen and ranking members on the national security committees.
Asked after the meeting if he had any more clarity about who is actually running Venezuela, senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said: “I wish I could tell you yes, but I can’t.”
Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Republican chairman senator Chuck Grassley and ranking Democrat senator Richard Durbin— said they should have been included in the classified briefing, arguing they have oversight of the Justice Department under Ms Bondi.
Earlier in the day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that Trump’s action in Venezuela is only the beginning of a dangerous approach to foreign policy as the president publicly signals his interests in Colombia, Cuba and Greenland.
“The American people did not sign up for another round of endless wars,” Mr Schumer said.
Mr Schumer said the briefing “while extensive and long, posed far more questions than it answered”.
