HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer announced Monday he will try to restrict President Donald Trump’s military power if he orders strikes against Venezuela.
Schumer said during a speech on the Senate floor that he would introduce a resolution with Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, and Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, to block American troops from fighting Venezuela.
“I want to be very, very clear: If Donald Trump proceeds with his plan to conduct strikes against Venezuela, Senators Kaine, Paul and I will immediately file a War Powers Resolution to force congressional action to block the use of troops in Venezuela,” Schumer said, although The National News Desk (TNND) couldn’t confirm Trump’s plans.
“The power to declare war lies in the hands of Congress, and we intend to exert that authority should the need arise.”
Trump said during a call with service members on Thanksgiving that his administration was going to stop people from trafficking drugs on land as it strikes other alleged traffickers at sea. The president also wrote in a social media post on Saturday that airlines should consider Venezuelan airspace “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” American air and naval craft have traveled to Caribbean waters near Venezuela as well.
Schumer said during his speech that he will force a debate and vote on preventing U.S. troops from fighting Venezuela if Trump orders strikes. American national security is at stake, the senator explained.
“Is Donald Trump nudging America into another war? Is he seeking regime change for Maduro? Will he put U.S. troops in harm’s way? Nobody knows. All we have is a bunch of contradictory statements from Trump,” Schumer said. “Donald Trump seems to be planning a war totally in secret, without congressional authorization, without any transparency, without any explanation for what his goals even are.”
A White House spokesperson told TNND on Tuesday that Trump was going to use “every element of American power” to stop drugs from “flooding” into the U.S.
“On the campaign trail, President Trump promised to take on the cartels – and he has taken unprecedented action to stop the scourge of narcoterrorism that has resulted in the needless deaths of innocent Americans,” the spokesperson said. “All of these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores”
Trump also told reporters on Sunday to not read into his comment about Venezuelan airspace but noted that the country is not very friendly.
“They sent millions of people, really, probably a number in excess of that, and a lot of those people shouldn’t be in our country, from jails, from gangs, from drug dealers, from all of the people that came into our country, shouldn’t have been in our country, causing a lot of problem[s] and drugs,” the president said.
Venezuela has rejected Trump’s accusations and claimed he is trying to remove its president, Nicolás Maduro, from power.
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