U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo. 6th District, is defending President Trump’s use of the military to remove Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro without seeking permission from Congress. He told Missourinet that it was a law enforcement action, not war.
“The same reason why they didn’t have to (notify Congress) when they went after Bin Laden, the same reason why they didn’t have to when they took out – I believe it’s Noriega in Panama. They don’t have to get Congress’s permission for a law enforcement action,” Graves said. “Maduro has been indicted for his crimes, and you know, he’s clearly a narco-terrorist. And so, it was time to take him out.”
Graves, a Republican who sits on the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, also said Congress was not notified because some members, quote, “don’t know how to keep their mouths shut.”
“The first thing they would do is, they would have called Maduro and let him know that this was coming,” he said. “You just cannot have that, you know, regardless…you can’t have it.”
President Trump ordered the operation and said the U.S. will be running Venezuela for now.
Graves and other Missouri Republican members of Congress support the action.
St. Louis-area Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner said Maduro is not a legitimate Head of State and called him a murderous leader of a drug cartel that used violence to cling to power, terrorizing the people of Venezuela.
U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, said on social media that the operation was U.S. military might at its finest and the U.S. is no longer tolerating third-world dictators who flood the U.S. with criminals and drugs.
Meanwhile, St. Louis Democratic Congressman Wesley Bell said Trump has once again acted the way he often does – recklessly and without regard for the law.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. 5th District, also called the president’s decision “reckless” for putting U.S. military members in harm’s way. He also disagreed with the invasion being a “law enforcement action,” calling it unconstitutional and saying that congressional approval is needed to launch military strikes.
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