Members of Congress spar over Trump’s capture of Maduro: ‘Reckless’ or protecting Americans?
5. Jim Himes
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said the operation lacked a plan and showed that Congress had lost its role in decisions of war.
Himes, who serves as ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, wrote that although Maduro was “a brutal thug who stole the election,” removing a foreign leader “without a next-day plan is dangerous and irresponsible.”
He compared the situation to U.S. interventions in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan and called on the president to present “a clear strategy for stability in Venezuela.”
In a separate post, Himes asked, “What lessons did the Chinese learn in the last 24 hours about the legitimacy of unprovoked military attacks on neighboring countries?” The comment drew a parallel between the U.S. operation in Venezuela and the kind of justifications authoritarian regimes might cite for their own military actions. Himes implied that the strike could weaken America’s ability to hold other nations accountable for aggression, particularly in contested regions like Taiwan or Ukraine, by eroding the credibility of U.S. arguments rooted in international law.
He also criticized House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, telling CNN that Jordan’s deference to Trump showed “our whole system is set up to provide checks and balances,” but those checks had effectively collapsed.
Himes said two-thirds of Republican members of Congress were “waking up every morning asking what they can do to prove their loyalty to the president,” describing that shift as proof that congressional authority had eroded.
