WASHINGTON, D.C. – Representative Jamie Raskin (MD-08) released the following statement after President Trump violated the Constitution by conducting a military strike against Venezuela and kidnapping its president:
“Under our Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war because the Framers believed that matters of war and peace for our country, life and death for our military personnel, belong with all the elected representatives of the people, not with any one man. The Constitution does not allow the president of the United States to unilaterally launch a war to take over another country, no matter how vicious its leader or authoritarian its regime.
“Trump is not only violating our Constitution, but he is shredding the rules-based international order created after World War II, whose essential building block is the political sovereignty and territorial integrity of each nation.
“Nicolás Maduro is a brutal tyrant who has caused great suffering to the Venezuelan people. That is not in dispute. There are equally brutal dictators, of course, all over the world, including in Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and many other countries. If Trump can invade Venezuela’s sovereign boundaries, take over the country and kidnap Maduro on the grounds that he is a vicious dictator, any other country with the will and the way can do the same thing elsewhere. Indeed, Vladimir Putin must be celebrating this act of naked imperialism because it gives validation to its own filthy imperialist war on Ukraine. China harbors similar designs perhaps on Taiwan. America should be leading the world in upholding the rules-based international order, not leading the world in trashing it.
“No one is confused by the timing of this rampage against the American Constitution and international law. Trump’s presidency is sinking like a stone, our economy is collapsing under the weight of Trump's unconstitutional tariffs, the Administration's efforts to suppress the Epstein Files are failing and millions of Americans just lost their health care insurance coverage. Amazingly, the president wants the people to think his unconstitutional war reflects his concern about illegal drug trafficking just one month after he pardoned the drug-dealing ex-president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, commuting his 45-year sentence after one year. Hernández brought in 400 tons of cocaine to America or 800,000 pounds, saying he was going to ‘stick it up the nostrils of the gringos.’
“President Trump has spent the better part of the last year trampling on our Constitution and violating Congress’ war powers, without regard to Due Process or the wreckage and destruction he’s leaving in his wake. Speaker Johnson should join us in asserting Congress’ constitutional authority over war powers and reining in a president who confuses himself with a king."
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