Republican lawmakers are emphatically backing President Donald Trump’s administration after the U.S. struck Venezuela and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., a member of the House Armed Services Committee whose district is home to a significant number of Venezuelan refugees, said he had spoken with Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the operation was carried out.
“President Trump has changed the course of history in our hemisphere. Our country & the world are safer for it. Today’s decisive action is this hemisphere’s equivalent to the Fall of the Berlin Wall,” Gimenez wrote in a statement on X.
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Rubio had apparently briefed multiple members of Congress after the operation was carried out as well.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., praised Maduro’s capture after speaking with Rubio and said he expected senators to be briefed when Congress is back from its two-week holiday recess starting Monday.
“President Trump’s decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Maduro, through the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States. I am grateful for the brave men and women of our armed forces who carried out this necessary action,” Thune said.
“I spoke to Secretary Rubio early this morning, and I look forward to receiving further briefings from the administration on this operation as part of its comprehensive counternarcotics strategy when the Senate returns to Washington next week.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., confirmed in a statement that the Trump administration “is working to schedule briefings for Members as Congress returns to Washington next week.”
“Today’s military action in Venezuela was a decisive and justified operation that will protect American lives,” Johnson said. “President Trump is putting American lives first, succeeding where others have failed, and under his leadership the United States will no longer allow criminal regimes to profit from wreaking havoc and destruction on our country.”
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A member on the Senate’s Armed Services panel, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said he also spoke with Rubio, who confirmed Maduro was in custody “and will face justice for his crimes against our citizens.”
“The interim government in Venezuela must now decide whether to continue the drug trafficking and colluding with adversaries like Iran and Cuba or whether to act like a normal nation and return to the civilized world. I urge them to choose wisely,” Cotton said in a statement.
Even Republicans who appeared skeptical at first seemed eased after conversations with Rubio.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, for instance, said he was keen to learn “what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force.”
He later said Rubio “informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant.”
“This action likely falls within the president’s inherent authority under Article II of the Constitution to protect U.S. personnel from an actual or imminent attack,” Lee wrote.
The majority of GOP lawmakers who spoke out on Saturday morning did so with emphatic backing of the administration, however. That includes both House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark.
“The operation carried out last night capturing Nicolás Maduro is another win by President Trump to protect our homeland and clean up the backyard of the United States,” Mast told Fox News Digital.
Crawford said in a statement, “This is a historic day in the Western Hemisphere, 36 years after the capture of Manuel Noriega, when the U.S showed we will not allow cartels to take over countries in our shared neighborhood. The arrest of Cartel De Los Soles leader Nicolás Maduro shows this clearly.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 GOP leader in the lower chamber, told Fox News Digital, “Maduro worked with our greatest adversaries, supported dangerous cartels, and infiltrated our country with drugs, killing Americans. President Trump took on this threat head-on today and Maduro was indicted in a U.S. court for his actions leading to the death of innocent Americans. God bless our troops and law enforcement who conducted this mission.”
House GOP Leadership Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., a senior member of both committees, said, “l am grateful for our brave troops, intelligence officers, and law enforcement who ensured a successful military operation in Venezuela leading to the arrest and indictment of the illegitimate narco terrorist Nicolás Maduro.”
It’s a stark departure from the majority of Democrats who largely accused Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution and entering an illegal conflict with Venezuela.
It comes after Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. had “successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela” and its leader.
He said Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country.
Attorney General Pam Bondi subsequently said both were indicted in the Southern District of New York, one of the largest federal prosecutorial offices in the U.S.
