Massachusetts elected officials weigh in after Trump strike in Venezuela, leader indicted in New York

Massachusetts elected officials are expressing their displeasure Saturday in response to an operation conducted in Venezuela.

President Trump announced Saturday morning that the United States had successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the country.

Massachusetts politicians weighed in on the move.

U.S. Senator of Massachusetts Ed Markey released the following:

“The Trump administration is lying to Congress and ignoring our constitutionally required approval for military action. This is what dictators do. This war is not just unjustified—it is unauthorized. Trump’s attack on Venezuela puts American lives in danger, destabilizes the region, and risks another endless war. Congress must get answers. The American people must get answers. And Trump must be held to account for this reckless, illegal act of war.”

U.S. Senator of Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren stated:

“President Trump’s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro — no matter how terrible a dictator he is — is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region. What does it mean that the U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela, and what will Trump do next around the world? The American people voted for lower costs, not for Trump’s dangerous military adventurism overseas that won’t make the American people safer.”

U.S. Rep for Massachusetts Bill Keating released this statement:

“President Trump’s unilateral action to send our military into Venezuela on a personal impulse under false fentanyl narco-trafficking allegations should shock the American public. While Maduro did not represent the will of the Venezuelan people, a US military intervention on this scale without Congressional authorization and an evidence-backed justification makes America weaker and alienates our allies in the region, including those on whom America depends on to combat drug trafficking. In the short term, this military action was tactically successful, but that is not a surprise given the men and women in our Armed Forces, and it must not cloud our judgment of the facts behind today’s actions.

“As a senior member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, the American people have made it clear that there are more far-reaching concerns. Additionally, what is the Trump Administration’s strategy to deal with the fallout that Maduro’s removal under the cloak of darkness will undoubtedly cause? How can the removal of Maduro be justified based on alleged narcotics charges when President Trump recently pardoned the former president of Honduras, a notorious drug trafficker with the Sinaloa Cartel, who was convicted of drug-related actions against the US? Does the president have a plan to deal with actual fentanyl trafficking that primarily comes from China through Mexico? We need answers to these and many more questions, immediately.”

Trump stated that the U.S. will take over Venezuela’s oil reserves and will also run the country for the time being.

According to Attorney General Pamela Bondi, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States.