WASHINGTON — Senior Trump administration officials briefed the House and Senate in separate meetings on Capitol Hill, detailing weekend attacks and the capture of Venezuela’s president — leaving some lawmakers with more questions than answers about what happens next, some lawmakers said.
Lawmakers heard from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegers and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Kaine, detailing the details and rationale for the operation to seize Venezuela. Congressional Republican leaders praised the administration’s successful mission but gave no clarity on the country’s plans after President Donald Trump announced this week that he would seize the country’s oil and sell it to other countries.
“We will buy 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil. We will sell it on the market at market price, not at the discount Venezuela gets,” Rubio said after a Senate briefing. “Then we will handle that money in a way that benefits the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime, so we have a lot of leverage to push for stability.”
Separately, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday that the United States would control those oil sales “indefinitely,” raising questions about how much power the Trump administration has in the South American country.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said Wednesday those details were still being sorted out.
“This is sanctioned oil and I’m not going to stand here and tell you all the details because it’s still being developed,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
Several Republican lawmakers struck a positive note at the meeting, telling reporters that administration officials adequately answered their questions about whether the strike was constitutional.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told the Deseret News he believed the action fell under the president’s Title II powers to protect the country from “actual or imminent attack,” a position he has held since speaking with Rubio at 3 a.m. the day of the attack.
Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin praised the information session as “the best bipartisan briefing” he has received since entering Congress.
He posted on
But Democrats and some Republicans have criticized the lack of clarity on what the U.S. plans to do next, especially since Trump has publicly considered taking the same action against other countries — especially when it comes to accessing oil.
“It’s crazy that they’re talking about stealing Venezuelan oil at gunpoint over a period of time, and that’s not defined as leverage to micromanage the country,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, a frequent critic of the Trump administration, told reporters. “Their plan appears to be to steal the oil and use the leverage of the oil to try to micromanage the country on a day-to-day basis. That sounds a little different than the mistakes we made in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Some of those concerns stem in particular from suggestions by the president and administration officials that Greenland could be the next U.S. target, something Trump has been hinting at for months.
A growing number of Republicans have come out against any military action or occupation of Greenland, portraying the country as a key NATO ally.
“I hate the talk of acquiring Greenland by purchase or force,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. “You know, I don’t use the word ‘hate’ very often, but I think it’s very, very disturbing.”
Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, told the Deseret News that Greenland was not mentioned in the briefing from House administration officials, but said he did not believe the threat of military action was serious. Moore opposed annexing the territory in a bipartisan statement earlier this week, saying the move would be “unnecessarily dangerous.”
“We want to make sure we have a safe and secure region,” Moore said after the briefing. “With the aggression of Russia and, strategically, China, the Arctic becomes more and more important because it’s more of a global issue.”
Johnson dismissed questions about whether the United States should consider military action in Greenland, telling reporters on Wednesday that he “doesn’t think anyone is seriously considering it. In Congress, we certainly are not.”
Senate Democrats plan to advance a war powers resolution this week that would limit the military actions Trump could order “in or against Venezuela” without congressional approval. Only Congress can authorize acts of war under the Constitution.
The resolution requires support from at least three Republicans, and some have said they are considering it. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is one of the co-sponsors.
“I think this is one of the most important things we’re debating in Congress: When do we go to war and who has the authority to go to war?” Paul said Wednesday.