President Donald Trump has directed administration officials to brief more members of Congress on the administration’s escalating campaign in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, which also seems to be aimed at ousting Venezuela’s authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro.
Citing two people familiar with the issue, Axios detailed that the decision answers to mounting complaints from lawmakers. “I keep getting calls about this from congressmen,” Trump said in a recent interview.
The outlet added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has given at least one briefing where he addressed the issue to top lawmakers. However, now more lawmakers are set to receive the information.
“We’re confident in the intelligence we have and when it’s been presented by Rubio to the Gang of Eight, they support it,” said an official, adding that “what Congress doesn’t support is not knowing about it.”
However, some lawmakers who have received information about the operation are still slamming it. Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton criticized what he described as lack of legal justification.
Speaking on CNBC, Moulton said he found the Trump administration’s argument to conduct the strikes “so flimsy that it makes the case for the Iraq War look like a slam dunk.”
“It was that bad. And by the way, at the last minute they pulled the lawyers from the briefings. So all the questions that both Democrats and Republicans had about exactly what you’re getting to. what is the legal justification for this, they weren’t there to explain it,” Moulton added.
Different reports have illustrated internal concerns about the military’s actions. Earlier last week, Reuters noted that troops are being required to sign non-disclosure agreements before taking part in the military campaign in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
The outlet noted that the step is highly unusual, considering the troops are already required to not disclose security secrets. Officials told the outlet that they didn’t know how many people had been required to sign the document. They did not describe the nature of the document.
The report comes shortly after the resignation of Southern Command (Southcom) head Alvin Holsey, who stepped down from his post in mid-October after reportedly raising concerns about the strikes in the region to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Originally published on Latin Times
