{"id":32855,"date":"2025-11-07T00:02:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=32855"},"modified":"2025-11-07T00:02:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T00:02:39","slug":"top-democrat-backs-us-intel-on-narco-trafficking-strikes-faults-biden-for-not-going-far-enough-on-maduro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=32855","title":{"rendered":"Top Democrat backs US intel on narco-trafficking strikes, faults Biden for \u2018not going far enough\u2019 on Maduro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top Democrats emerged from a classified Capitol Hill briefing Wednesday expressing confidence in the intelligence behind recent U.S. strikes on suspected narco-trafficking vessels near Venezuela. But they also faulted the Biden administration for what they called a failure to confront Nicol\u00e1s Maduro after Venezuela\u2019s disputed 2024 election.
\nThe Office of Legal Counsel presented lawmakers with its written justification for a series of missile strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that U.S. officials say have killed 63 suspected traffickers. Lawmakers from both parties said the briefing reassured them the targets were legitimate, even as some voiced unease about the broader strategy.
\n\u2018The final comment I\u2019ll make is just that nothing in the legal opinion even mentions Venezuela,\u2019 said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
\n\u2018I think they do have visibility into drug trafficking,\u2019 Warner added, saying he trusted U.S. intelligence assessments but would prefer traffickers be \u2018interdicted and taken to court rather than blown up.\u2019<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior Pentagon lawyers led the closed-door briefing for congressional leaders and the chairs and ranking members of the Intelligence, Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees.
\nLawmakers have complained for days about being left in the dark as the Pentagon launched multiple maritime strikes without first consulting Congress. Officials declined to discuss the intended scope or duration of the campaign and provided few details about who was killed or what evidence tied the targets to narcotics trafficking.
\n\u2018Lots of mistakes could get made,\u2019 said Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. \u2018But, again, they are applying the eyes and ears of our intelligence community to these boats. I don\u2019t worry too much that there will be a strike on a fishing boat or a pleasure boat, but that\u2019s always possible.\u2019
\nHimes said the administration described \u2018the process by which these boats are selected\u2019 but did not share photographs or the identities of those killed.
\nHouse Speaker Mike Johnson also backed the intelligence underpinning the operation.
\n\u2018We have exquisite intelligence about these strikes on these vessels,\u2019 Johnson said. \u2018We know the contents of the boats. We know the personnel almost to a person.\u2019<\/p>\n

Officials told lawmakers there were no plans to expand the maritime campaign to land operations or to target Maduro directly.
\n\u2018There are no apparent plans to expand this beyond what they say they are doing,\u2019 Himes said.
\nReports that the administration was considering potential strikes on Mexico did not appear to come up in the briefing, which lawmakers said focused almost exclusively on cocaine \u2014 some of which is trafficked through Venezuela \u2014 rather than fentanyl, Mexico\u2019s top export.
\n\u2018It\u2019s as described \u2014 to stop the flow of drugs, and, to be clear, to stop the flow of cocaine,\u2019 said Himes.
\nStill, several Democrats said the Biden administration missed a critical moment last year to rally Latin American allies after Venezuela\u2019s contested election, when independent monitors and several Western governments recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez as the rightful winner.
\n\u2018I frankly think the Biden administration didn\u2019t go far enough after the Venezuelan people voted overwhelmingly to get rid of Maduro,\u2019 Warner said. \u2018We missed a huge opportunity when Venezuelans \u2014 in numbers probably in the mid-sixties percent \u2014 came out against Maduro, even under threat of violence. The fact that we didn\u2019t rally the region at that point was, in retrospect, a huge mistake.\u2019
\nAfter the July 2024 vote, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on high-level Maduro officials but stopped short of reimposing broad restrictions on Venezuela\u2019s oil sector, a move officials said could have driven up global fuel prices and worsened migration pressures.
\nBy contrast, the Trump administration has taken a harder line. It reimposed sweeping sanctions on Maduro during Trump\u2019s first term and has since increased pressure on the South American strongman in his second. The Justice Department has offered a $50 million bounty for information leading to Maduro\u2019s arrest, and officials have not ruled out whether the current strikes could be intended to pressure him to step aside.
\nAsked in a CBS interview over the weekend whether Maduro\u2019s days were numbered, Trump said, \u2018I would say yeah. I think so.\u2019
\nPressed on whether the U.S. would go to war with Venezuela, he added, \u2018I doubt it. I don\u2019t think so.\u2019<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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