Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed a group of top congressional members behind closed doors on Wednesday following President Trump's orders for a wave of unprecedented U.S. military strikes against alleged drug boats that are raising the specter of a new war.
Legal analysts have broadly described the strikes as illegal under both U.S. and international law — in part because they have not been authorized by Congress.
Trump officials invited a dozen members of Congress, including Republican and Democratic leaders and the top lawmakers on intelligence and armed services committees in both chambers. A growing bipartisan group of lawmakers have submitted months of demands for more information on the attacks.
Since the strikes began in September, at least 66 have been killed in 16 strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, according to the administration. Trump said last month he approved covert operations in Venezuela, which was followed by orders to send a surge of U.S. naval forces to the waters off South America. Pentagon officials said the country's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, and its strike group, which marks 20% of the Navy's deployed warships is now headed for the region.
On Tuesday, the White House disputed claims it wasn't being transparent enough with Congress regarding the strikes and military buildup in the region. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the meeting is a top example of their cooperation and said his appearance marks the ninth briefing so far.
"The president made it very clear if senators want to understand the administration's operations against narco-drug traffickers, we are very happy to speak with them about that," she said.
However, many of the known congressional briefings have been limited in scope and targeted to small groups of Republicans.
Last week, top Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, criticized Trump administration officials for holding a closed-door briefing with about a dozen GOP Senators — and no Democrats. Warner said someone should be "fired" for the oversight.
"We hit a new low, what the administration did in the last 24 hours is corrosive not only to our Democracy but downright dangerous for our national security," Warner, D-Va., said.
Wednesday's meeting marked the first time Rubio and Hegseth briefed top lawmakers on the strikes since they began more than two months ago. During this time, members have complained they did not have a legal basis for Trump's orders for the attacks, access to a secret list of targets or broader information on evidence recovered and identities of those killed.
A small bipartisan group of lawmakers intends to force a vote in the coming days or weeks to block Trump's use of military forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela. Behind closed doors, Trump officials have been lobbying Republicans to vote no.
Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., introduced the war powers resolution after Trump said he was entertaining the possibility of military strikes inside Venezuela. They argue that — as laid out clearly by the Constitution — Congress retains the authority to declare war, not the president.
An earlier vote to limit the strikes in the Caribbean failed. Two Republicans, Paul and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined Democrats in the 48-51 vote. However, Kaine argued this new vote has a shot at passage, reflecting the earlier resolution's focus on the Caribbean turned off some members and this resolution is more clear cut.
Copyright 2025 NPR
