I am furious that Trump has engaged in new, illegal, colonialism type military action in Venezuela. Trump’s attack and kidnapping is in direct conflict with the UN charter which prohibits invasion of a sovereign country and it is unconstitutional. There was no authorization from Congress for this action. Your constituents do not want another war for oil. This is not about restoring democracy in Venezuela nor is it about stopping drug trafficking in the US.

I am asking you to reassert Congress’ unique power to declare war and do the following:

Pass a War Powers Act resolution to block all unauthorized strikes and military action in Venezuela
Investigate the administration's extrajudicial killings and potential war crimes
Investigate the role of fossil fuel corporations in the decision to use military force against Venezuela
Introduce articles of impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (only for representatives in the US House) and demand the resignation of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State
Support articles of impeachment and move to convict Trump for his repeated defiance of the law and the constitution

[Senator Schiff Only instead of the first ask]: Thank you for standing strong against the Trump regime’s illegal military action in Venezuela and for co-sponsoring the War Powers Act. Please ensure its passage in the US Senate and:

Investigate the administration's extrajudicial killings and potential war crimes
Investigate the role of fossil fuel corporations in the decision to use military force against Venezuela
Introduce articles of impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (only for representatives in the US House) and demand the resignation of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State
Support articles of impeachment and move to convict Trump for his repeated defiance of the law and the constitution.

Background

With the illegal military strike on Venezuela and abduction of its leader Nicolas Maduro, we experienced a return to U.S. imperialism in Latin America on behalf of US corporations and oil companies. It is a return to the era in which the US asserted unlimited power over Western Hemisphere nations (toppling leftist regimes in Guatemala in the 1950s and Chile in the 1970s, military occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1965 and Grenada in 1983, backing murderous right-wing regimes through the 1980s right up through the kidnapping of Manuel Noriega, Panama's ruler, in the 1980s)

While Maduro is a dictator who abused his people and impoverished Venezuela for years, the Trump regime failed to demonstrate that he was an immediate danger to the US (and did not seek Congressional approval, which would not have been granted). His feigned interest in the well-being of the Venezuelan people rings as hollow as the nonexistent, "Weapons of Mass Destruction," used by the Bush II administration to justify invading Iraq and the forever war for oil that followed.

There is a history of oil-grabs going back to British imperialism in the middle east in the late nineteenth century and murders of Osage Nation tribal members in Oklahoma when oil made them rich in the early twentieth century, and a US-backed coup against the democratic government of Iran in the 1950s.

Trump says the US will “run” Venezuela and control its oil production. He said the US wants Venezuela to return “our land and oil” which was “stolen by Venezuela” and involved a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

As Trump recently told the press:

"They took our oil rights — we had a lot of oil there. As you know they threw our companies out, and we want it back."
"We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country." (See Trump demands Venezuela return 'land, oil rights' to U.S. and Trump says US will ‘run’ Venezuela, control oil production.)
Trump spoke to U.S. oil companies "before and after" the operation. "And they want to go in, and they’re going to do a great job for the people of Venezuela, and they’re going to represent us well." “We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.”

The current action destabilizes both the rule of law and separation of powers at home and the global order, such as it is. It overrides or ignores the powers granted to the legislative branch – as in only Congress can declare war – and a number of people in Congress have testified they were not just left in the dark; they were lied to. This is part of the consolidation of (illegitimate) power in the president. It undermines any US opposition to China seizing Taiwan, which appears to be a possibility this year, and normalizes the invasion of Ukraine by the Putin regime.

The illegal seizure of Venezuela's head of state is happening within weeks of Trump's pardoning the former president of Honduras, who was convicted in a court of law and imprisoned in New York for cocaine trafficking on an epic scale.

The murder of people on boats in waters near Venezuela was a crime and apparently a warm-up. This makes the whole world more dangerous in direct and indirect ways. And it makes the US a rogue nation.

References:

Five Facets of the Attack on Venezuela by the Rogue Nation the US Has Become
The UN Charter provision that prohibits invasions and the use of force is Article 2(4), found in Chapter I, which states that all member states must refrain from the "threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state". This forms the cornerstone of international law, aiming to prevent war.
WATCH: 'We want it back': Trump demands Venezuela return 'land, oil rights' to U.S. | PBS News
National Security Strategy | The White House
Monroe Doctrine (1823) | National Archives.
Trump says US will ‘run’ Venezuela, control oil production
Trump says he tipped off oil companies on Venezuela attack, The Hill, 1/5/26

This Week's US Congressional Call Scripts:

Featured