President Donald Trump is praising the United States military for capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, but Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says the president’s action is unconstitutional.
The president held a press conference at the White House Saturday and said the U.S. Armed Forces conducted an extraordinary military operation in Caracas late Friday and early Saturday to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
“Maduro and Flores have been indicted in the Southern District of New York, [by U.S. Attorney] Jay Clayton, for their campaign of deadly narcoterrorism against the United States and its citizens,” Trump said, adding that the U.S. was prepared to launch a second-wave attack in Venezuela if necessary.
The president said no U.S. service members were killed and no U.S.. equipment was lost during the operation.
Trump said Venezuela would be under U.S. control.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” the president said.
Pritzker said the American people deserve a president focused on making their lives more affordable.
“Donald Trump’s unconstitutional military action in Venezuela is putting our troops in harm’s way with no long-term strategy,” Pritzker said in a statement posted on social media.
Illinois U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, said Trump’s actions are a blatant violation of U.S. and international law from a man who touted himself for months as the president for peace.
“Yet overnight, he committed a drastic act of war against Venezuela and has pledged that the United States will be ‘running’ Venezuela and is prepared to make additional strikes,” Quigley said in a statement.
At his press conference on Saturday, Trump invoked the Monroe Doctrine and said the Western Hemisphere is now safer after Maduro was captured.
“As I’ve said many times, the Maduro regime emptied out their prisons, sent their worst and most violent monsters into the United States to steal American lives,” Trump said.
The president congratulated the U.S. military, including the National Guard for helping crime go down in U.S. cities, including what he called “a little bit” in Chicago.
“We had no working ability with the governor. The governor was a disaster and the mayor was a disaster. It knocked down crime, but we’re pulling out of there. When they need us, we’ll know,” Trump said.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Pritzker and Quigley in opposition to the president’s action.
“As we have said for the past two years, the dehumanization of migrants from Venezuela, and of immigrants generally, by the Far Right has laid the groundwork for military action in Central and South America,” Johnson said in a statement.
Trump said the world’s largest oil companies would invest billions of dollars into Venezuela’s oil infrastructure. He said running the country would not cost the U.S. anything because of “what’s coming out of the ground.”
The president promised that partnering with the U.S. would make the people of Venezuela “rich, independent and safe,” adding that the partnership would make people from Venezuela living in the United States “extremely happy.”
