Senior Democrats spoke to the media after the secret briefing, in which US President Donald Trump and his senior officials are accused of lying about the reason for the military action and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the briefing raised more questions than it answered, including whether the White House would avoid similar actions against other countries in the future.
“I have not received any assurances that we would not try to do the same thing in other countries,” Schumer said after the briefing, CNN reported.
“And finally, when the United States engages in this kind of regime change and so-called nation building, it will always harm the United States.
“And I left the briefing feeling like that would be the case.”
Senior Republicans have defended Trump’s decisions and the seizure of Maduro, who pleaded not guilty in New York federal court to narco-terrorism charges, and insisted that Trump had no intention of occupying or ruling Venezuela.
Mike Johnson, speaker of the Republican House of Representatives, said: “We have no armed forces in Venezuela and we are not occupying that country.”
Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Brian Mast also denied the Trump administration’s plan to build Venezuela’s nation.
“They are not the long-term war government,” Mast said, when asked by media how he would reassure Americans that the US will not face another war like the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan.
Trump’s choice of Rodríguez was questioned
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley criticized Trump’s support for Delcy Rodríguez as interim president of Venezuela.
“It seems he wants to keep the dictatorship in the palace, while the vice president becomes head of the government, instead of Maduro,” Merkley said, according to a CNN report.
“He just wants a dictator who will say ‘Yes sir’ when the United States says ‘Do this or do that’… I think that’s a big problem for us.”
The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to vote this week on whether to block further military action against Venezuela without congressional approval.
Republicans emphasized that the operation did not require congressional approval last weekend because of its short duration and role in law enforcement.
But Democrats and some Republicans have accused Trump of trying to sidestep the Constitution’s requirement that Congress approve any military action necessary to defend the U.S. unless the action is brief and limited.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune said more details would come in the coming days on how long the US would retain control of Venezuela.
— With additional reporting from Reuters
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