Trump’s full Truth Social post from 4:21 a.m. ET:
The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. There will be a News Conference today at 11 A.M., at Mar-a-Lago. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Experts are condemning the strikes as illegal under international law, and questioning why Congress wasn’t consulted.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said on X that he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who “informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States.” Maduro was indicted in 2020. There is no known indictment of his wife.
Manuel Noriega, the Panamanian dictator who was captured by the U.S. during a 1989 invasion to stand trial in Miami, is getting mentioned a lot. A DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion from that time asserts that “the President, acting through the Attorney General, has the inherent constitutional authority to deploy the FBI to investigate and arrest individuals for violating United States law, even if those actions contravene customary international law.”
Lee, who had initially questioned how this attack was possible under U.S. law without the consent of Congress, did a quick 180, seemingly immediately satisfied with Rubio’s insistence that the “large scale strike” described by Trump was necessary to defend law enforcement. Other Republican members of Congress are falling in line this morning too.
This post has been updated.
