In the early hours of the morning, the Trump administration initiated a “large-scale strike” against Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. They claim to have “captured” the President, Maduro, and Secretary of State Rubio has said that the U.S., having extradited the leader of Venezuela from his own country, plans to have him stand trial in U.S. courts.
Exactly two weeks ago, Representative Thanedar’s office asked Citizens’ Impeachment to endorse H.Res 935, We did. And urged them to file under Rule IX. And then we urged them again, telling them in no uncertain terms that the writing was on the wall, the rhetoric of the administration was steering the country towards escalating military action in Venezuela, and that they had the potential to freeze that unlawful action by impeaching Secretary Hegseth.
Thanedar’s office did not respond. The article never left committee Congress did not vote to impeach Hegseth for his extrajudicial killings before the December recess. Congress failed to take action when it may have made a difference, just like they did last summer when Congress failed to impeach Trump for his unilateral strike on Iran. And today, we are seeing the results.
Congress, this is on you.
As a veteran, it is hard to put into words how destabilizing this horror show of events is. The State Department is claiming no further actions in Venezuela are planned, but let’s be honest, neither was this one. Congress wasn’t informed, Venezuela posed no threat to the United States. There was no attempt to comply with international law or (as usual) the U.S. Constitution. Even the failure of the administration’s flimsy, post-hoc pretext of drug trafficking to justify the extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean suggested they still sort of wanted to look like they were the good guys.
No longer. This administration adheres to a mindset of “lethality over legality.” Our veterans know too well that when the U.S. government violates the sovereignty of other nations, it makes us less safe – in November, Courage Candidate Marialana Kinter from FL-07 said it plainly: People will die. As Representative Al Green said in his impeachment resolution condemning Trump’s unilateral strike on Iran in violation of the War Powers act, should another country’s military bomb the capital city of the United States of America, it would be a de facto declaration of war against the United States of America.
Yesterday’s unilateral strikes in Venezuela are yet another example of this administration’s willingness to violate international law, the Constitution, and the concept of co-equal branches of government in order to impose their worst impulses without oversight. The administration takes these actions without a thought as to the consequences of that action, either short- or long- term. And, the administration takes these actions knowing that Congress is not yet ready to claim their power and impeach, convict, and remove an unfit tyrant from office.
Here’s the thing: when they decide to fight, Congress is one of the most powerful government bodies in the entire world. At the outset of the fight over the Epstein files, members of Congress pulled out all the stops to pursue that information. They introduced seven different resolutions and added amendments to popular bills in order to force the release of the files, putting pressure on the executive by voting to subpoena the DoJ. They won, eventually, with a discharge petition that was signed by Rep. Grijalva (AZ-07) and a nearly unanimous vote to release the files.
Congress can fight. It should fight. And we at Citizens’ Impeachment will continue to bring the fight to them and make certain that every single one of your representatives know that their citizens demand that can and must use the power they have right now to fight for our democracy and reign in the unconstitutional actions of this administration.
Join us here to bring the conversation about impeachment to your representative. This is a national effort and we need everyone.