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In the wake of President Donald Trump’s move to unilaterally green-light the successful operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., said that he is introducing legislation to block any president from leveraging an indictment to avoid obtaining congressional authorization for the use of military force.
“I am introducing legislation to prevent a President from treating a criminal indictment as a substitute for congressional authorization. The indictment of a foreign leader — no matter how meritorious — cannot convert a military operation into a law enforcement action and cannot replace the Constitution’s requirement that Congress authorize the use of military force,” Torres noted in a post on X.
Fox News Digital reached out to Torres’ office to request comment from the congressman on Thursday.
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Torres was among the chorus of congressional figures who condemned Trump’s operation to capture Maduro without congressional approval last week in Venezuela.
“The US Constitution vests the power to declare war in Congress. No single individual has the authority to commit the nation to a war of regime change without congressional authorization,” Torres noted in a Saturday post on X.
“Power cannot replace principle. Nor can the ends justify the means. In a constitutional republic, the rule of law must prevail over an act of raw military might. History warns that wars of regime change — even when well-intentioned — can unleash unintended consequences that produce more instability than they prevent,” he added.
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During a press conference on Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the mission was not the type “you can do congressional notification on.”
He said that “at its core, this was an arrest of two indicted fugitives of American justice,” adding that the War Department provided support for the Justice Department.
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Asked about whether Congress was notified in advance, Trump said that “Congress has a tendency to leak. This would not be good.”
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