Congress wasn’t informed before President Trump’s ordered military capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. But in the days since, some members of Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation have voiced support of the move.
Maduro pleaded not guilty to narcotics charges in a New York federal court early this week, days after Trump ordered the U.S. Army’s Delta Force to snatch up the dictator from his presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela's capital.
Senior Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford called the capture a “good thing” on social media Monday, saying Maduro had been smuggling drugs into the U.S. and needed to be stopped.
"He's a drug kingpin," Lankford said. "He is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela, and he's now suffering under the hands of American justice, which is where he should be."
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin and Reps. Kevin Hern and Tom Cole have also said they support the move, according to the Tulsa World.
“Nicolás Maduro — meet the U.S. justice system,” Mullin wrote in an X post on Monday, “Meanwhile, the same Senate Dems who once attacked President Trump for not doing enough (Schumer, Murphy) are suddenly fuming over a successful military operation.”
Critics, including Senate Democratic leader from New York Chuck Schumer, say Trump violated U.S. and International law by ordering the strike.
“The administration has assured me three separate times that it was not pursuing regime change or taking military action in Venezuela.” Schumer wrote in a Jan. 3 statement. “Clearly, they are not being straight with Americans.”
Members of Congress were briefed on the Maduro capture in retrospect, which Senator Mullin called the “best bipartisan briefing he’s ever attended.”
“I’ve been in hundreds of classified briefings,” Mullin said. “That was — by far — the best bipartisan briefing I’ve ever attended. While I can’t get into operational details, we should be VERY proud of our American military for bringing a drug trafficking killer like Nicolás Maduro to justice.”
Democrats remain unsatisfied with the briefings, saying they provided minimal information regarding a plan for stability and control of Venezuela.
