Dear Friend,

On January 3rd, I issued the following statement regarding President Trump’s attempted regime change operation in Venezuela, including the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro:

“President Trump’s unilateral decision to attempt a regime change operation in Venezuela by using military force to capture Nicolas Maduro and declaring, ‘we will run the country’, threatens global order and is a fundamental violation of the Constitution, which gives Congress the responsibility of authorizing major military actions that could have severe repercussions for American interests. 

America’s unprecedented global strength and prosperity was built on this principle of restraining military force through democratic bodies like Congress. President Trump has shredded this principle, and along with it has destroyed American credibility and emboldened our adversaries to act with similar aggression. This new foreign policy that President Trump and his advisors have used to justify this act of war, including invoking the 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine as a justification for America to do whatever it pleases in the Western Hemisphere, is the exact same reasoning that China would use to justify invading Taiwan, and which Russia has used to assault Ukraine. 

President Trump has also now threatened Cuba with similar language, and is preparing a giant corrupt giveaway to oil companies by claiming that the United States will acquire Venezuela’s oil. This is corruption of the highest order. Maduro was an authoritarian who stayed in power despite the will of the people, but that does not justify the United States in starting a war to benefit some of the world’s wealthiest corporations.

President Trump did all of this without the consent of Congress, and without providing any details or day-after plans. The full consequences of this act of war will not be known for some time, and they may require putting American boots on the ground in Venezuela, as the President has said he was prepared to do. The American people do not want to be dragged into another endless conflict distracting from the rising cost of living and the affordability crisis. Whatever happens next, the responsibility will be squarely with President Trump and his contempt for the Constitution and for Congress.”

To stay informed on future tele-town halls and my day-to-day work in Connecticut’s Third District and in Washington, D.C., please visit www.delauro.house.gov, subscribe to my newsletter here, and follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.

                                                                                               Sincerely,