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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, slammed the Trump administration after it held briefings with only Republican lawmakers on the U.S. military strikes targeting alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Warner called the move to exclude Democrats from the national security briefings “indefensible and dangerous.”
“Shutting Democrats out of a briefing on U.S. military strikes and withholding the legal justification for those strikes from half the Senate is indefensible and dangerous,” the senator said in a statement. “Decisions about the use of American military force are not campaign strategy sessions, and they are not the private property of one political party.”
“For any administration to treat them that way erodes our national security and flies in the face of Congress’ constitutional obligation to oversee matters of war and peace,” he continued.
HEGSETH SAYS MILITARY CONDUCTED ANOTHER STRIKE ON BOAT CARRYING ALLEGED NARCO-TERRORISTS
Warner said the partisan “stunt” is a “slap in the face” to Congress’ war powers responsibilities and to the men and women in uniform. He also stressed that it sets a “reckless and deeply troubling precedent.”
Reports indicate that the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) produced a legal opinion justifying the strikes, which Democrats have been demanding in recent weeks.
“The administration must immediately provide to Democrats the same briefing and the OLC opinion justifying these strikes, as Secretary Rubio personally promised me that he would in a face-to-face meeting on Capitol Hill just last week,” Warner said in his statement. “Americans deserve a government that fulfills its constitutional duties and treats decisions about the use of military force with the seriousness they demand.”
The Pentagon, responding to Warner’s criticism, claimed that the “appropriate” committees were briefed on the strikes.
“The Department of War has briefed the appropriate committees of jurisdiction, including the Senate Intelligence committee, numerous times throughout the operations targeting narco-terrorists,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement. “These have occurred on a bipartisan basis, and will continue as such.”
SENATORS LOOK TO BLOCK TRUMP FROM ENGAGING IN ‘HOSTILITIES’ IN VENEZUELA
On Wednesday, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also penned a letter demanding to review the legal justification behind the series of boat strikes they say appear to violate several laws.
“Drug trafficking is a terrible crime that has had devastating impacts on American families and communities and should be prosecuted. Nonetheless, the President’s actions to hold alleged drug traffickers accountable must still conform with the law,” the letter states.
The Trump administration has also been scrutinized over the strikes by members of his own party, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who raised concerns about killing people without due process and the possibility of killing innocent people.
Paul has cited Coast Guard statistics that show a significant percentage of boats boarded for suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent.
The senator has also argued that if the administration plans to engage in a war with Venezuela after it has targeted boats it claims are transporting drugs for the Venezuela-linked Tren de Aragua gang, it must seek a declaration of war from Congress. In the House, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has made similar statements.
This comes as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth announced the U.S. military on Wednesday struck another boat carrying people he said were narco-terrorists. The strikes were carried out in the Eastern Pacific region at the direction of President Donald Trump, killing four men on board.
That was the 14th strike on suspected drug boats carried out since September. A total of 61 have reportedly been killed while three survived, including at least two who were later repatriated to their home countries.
The Pentagon has not released the identities of those killed or evidence that drugs were on board.
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