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W.Va. congressional delegation overwhelmingly supports Venezuela raid

CHARLESTON – An early morning raid of Venezuela ordered by President Donald Trump that seized the nation’s president and his wife has raised questions about its legality, but most Republican lawmakers, including West Virginia’s congressional delegation, have expressed support for the attack.

In a military operation Saturday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown out of the country to a U.S. warship for transport to New York, where the couple will be charged in federal court for drug trafficking counts according to reporting by the Associated Press.

“The United States Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in the capital of Venezuela,” Trump said in a press announcement later Saturday morning. “Overwhelming military power – air, land and sea – was used to launch a spectacular assault. It was an assault not seen since World War II.

“It was a force against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas to bring outlaw dictator Nicholas Maduro to justice,” Trump continued. “This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.”

Trump – joined by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials – said the U.S. will govern Venezuela temporarily until a new democratic government can be elected. During the transition, the U.S. will begin tapping Venezuela’s oil reserves.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said. “We don’t want to be involved having someone else get in and we have the same situation that we’ve had for the last long period of years.

“As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, for a long period of time,” Trump said. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies – the biggest anywhere in the world – go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken (oil) infrastructure … and start making money for the country.”

The Trump administration has been putting military pressure on the Maduro regime since Trump took office for his second term nearly one year ago. This included seizing Maduro’s plane, killing alleged drug smugglers on the seas, capturing Venezuelan oil tankers and maintaining a U.S. Navy presence off the nation’s coast.

The U.S. government has never recognized Maduro, who succeeded the late Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. While the country has elections for its president, international monitors have questioned the legitimacy of those votes over the years.

Maduro and officials within his regime were indicted in federal court back in 2020 for conspiracy charges related to drug-trafficking operations. That indictment was updated Saturday to include Maduro’s wife. West Virginia’s congressional delegation praised the capture of Madura on social media Saturday in similar statements.

“For far too long, Nicolás Maduro has used his illegitimate presidency to push poisonous drugs into American communities, harming our people — including in my state of West Virginia, where so many families have experienced immense pain and suffering,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. “I applaud the brave military, law enforcement, and intelligence community personnel who made this operation happen. I thank (Trump) for finally taking action to bring this narcoterrorist thug to justice for his crimes, and I look forward to receiving a full briefing in the coming days.”

“Maduro has not only illegitimately ruled over Venezuela and its people, but has enabled cartels to harm Americans through state-sponsored drug trafficking into our country – including West Virginia,” said Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va. “I applaud the brave men and women of our armed forces who carried out this decisive action, and applaud (Trump) for his fearless leadership – America will not back down.”

“For too long, America’s leaders neglected our own backyard,” said U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va. “Narco-traffickers like Nicolas Maduro took advantage, sending a constant stream of poison into our country, killing Americans and destroying communities, and giving our enemies like China, Russia, and Iran a strategic foothold in our hemisphere. No more. This is America’s backyard and we’ll defend it. Do not test (Trump’s) resolve.”

Saturday’s raid did not have the formal approval of Congress, though some likened it to the 1990 police action ordered by then-President George H.W. Bush to capture former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega. According to reporting, congressional leaders of the two Armed Services committees were not notified.

West Virginia Democratic Party Chairman and Del. Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said in a statement Saturday afternoon that Trump’s intervention in Venezuela was hypocritical given his claims of being a peacemaker.

“President Trump promised peace, an end to foreign entanglements, and an America First foreign policy. Instead, he has delivered the very thing he claimed to oppose: another open-ended commitment to intervene in another nation’s affairs, with American taxpayers footing the bill and American lives potentially on the line,” Pushkin said.

“Today, the president finally said the quiet part out loud. This is not about stemming the flow of drugs into the United States,” Pushkin continued. “If it were, his focus would be on Colombia, China, or even Mexico – countries that play a vastly greater role in the drug trade affecting our communities. This is about regime change. It is about enriching oil corporations and billionaires while ordinary Americans pay the price.”

Pushkin called for West Virginia’s congressional delegation and Congress as a whole to assert its authority over the White House when it comes to war powers.

“This represents a profound betrayal of the promises Donald Trump made to the American people. He has committed the United States to an uncertain role in South America with no clear mission, no defined end, and no authorization from Congress,” Pushkin said. “As the president’s influence at home and abroad continues to wane, he appears increasingly willing to endanger Americans and sidestep the Constitution in a desperate effort to cling to power and relevance. That is unacceptable, and it must be stopped.”

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