Tracking congressional criticism of Trump’s attack on Venezuela

On Saturday, the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and carried out airstrikes across Venezuela. We are keeping track of notable criticism of this attack from members of Congress.

Republicans

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)

“If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

“Mexican cartels are primarily and overwhelmingly responsible for killing Americans with deadly drugs.

If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs then why hasn’t the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels?

And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America? Ironically cocaine is the same drug that Venezuela primarily traffics into the U.S. […]

Regime change, funding foreign wars, and American’s tax dollars being consistently funneled to foreign causes, foreigners both home and abroad, and foreign governments while Americans are consistently facing increasing cost of living, housing, healthcare, and learn about scams and fraud of their tax dollars is what has most Americans enraged. Especially the younger generations. Boomers and half of Gen X will cheer on neocon wars and talking points, but the other half of Gen X and majority on down see through it and hate it. […]

This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end.

Boy were we wrong.”

Democrats

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)

“The administration has assured me three separate times that it was not pursuing regime change or taking military action in Venezuela. Clearly, they are not being straight with Americans.

The idea that Trump plans to now run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.

The administration must brief Congress immediately on its objectives, and its plan to prevent a humanitarian and geopolitical disaster that plunges us into another endless war or one that trades one corrupt dictator for another.”

Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.)

“Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth looked every Senator in the eye a few weeks ago and said this wasn’t about regime change. I didn’t trust them then and we see now that they blatantly lied to Congress. Trump rejected our Constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people overwhelmingly reject risks pulling our nation into another war.

This strike doesn’t represent strength. It’s not sound foreign policy. It puts Americans at risk in Venezuela and the region, and it sends a horrible and disturbing signal to other powerful leaders across the globe that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy for the U.S. government. This will further damage our reputation – already hurt by Trump’s policies around the world – and only isolate us in a time when we need our friends and allies more than ever.”

“Americans across the political spectrum must reject Trump’s plan for the U.S. to ‘run the country’ of Venezuela.

This is a disastrous plan. We have seen this show before and it did not end well.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

“Trump’s attack on Venezuela will make the United States and the world less safe. This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize their resources or change their governments. This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine.

Trump and his administration have often said they want to revive the Monroe Doctrine, claiming the United States has the right to dominate the affairs of the hemisphere. They have spoken openly about controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world. This is rank imperialism. It recalls the darkest chapters of U.S. interventions in Latin America, which have left a terrible legacy. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world.

Trump campaigned for president on an “America First” platform. He claimed to be the “peace candidate.” At a time when 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, when our healthcare system is collapsing, when people cannot afford housing and when AI threatens millions of jobs, it is time for the president to focus on the crises facing this country and end this military adventurism abroad. Trump is failing in his job to “run” the United States. He should not be trying to “run” Venezuela.”

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Maine Democrat Gov. Janet Mills’ Administration Gave No-Bid State Contracts to Somali NGO That Allegedly “Registered Migrants to Vote” — Organization Later Caught in Medicaid Fraud Scandal

The walls are closing in on Maine’s migrant-industrial complex — and the trail leads straight back to Democrat Governor Janet Mills and her administration.

According to reporting from The Maine Wire, dozens of federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) swarmed multiple locations in Lewiston this week tied to Somali-run nonprofits, Medicaid billing operations, and political operatives with deep connections to Maine Democrats.

HSI confirmed it is “actively conducting audits of businesses in Maine to protect America from fraud & ensure businesses only employ legal workers,” adding that hiring unauthorized workers “undermines national security.”

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Eric Swalwell Vows to Arrest ICE Agents, Revoke their Driver’s Licenses if Elected Governor of California – “You Have to Go on Offense”

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said on Tuesday that he plans to “go on offense” against federal agents in California, charging them with crimes and preventing them from driving in the state. 

If elected governor in November, “what I’m going to do is make sure that they take off their masks and show their faces, that they show their identification, and if they commit crimes, that they’re going to be charged with crimes,” Swalwell said on MS NOW’s All In.

“I also think if the governor has the ability to issue driver’s licenses to people in California,” he continued, “if you’re going to wear a mask and not identify yourself, you’re not going to be eligible to drive a vehicle in California.” Yet, they’ll still allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses.

However, Swalwell may not even be eligible to run for Governor of California, given his lack of a California residence for the past five years.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, despite being an elected representative for the state of California, Swalwell does not have a home in California and has listed Washington, DC as his primary residence. Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice for mortgage fraud.

Still, Swalwell’s current plan is to fight off federal officials to protect illegal aliens and criminals, who he describes as “the most vulnerable in our community.”

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Virginia’s Deep State Deepens Under Spanberger

Virginia’s Democratic Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger has displayed incredible audacity with her nomination of Stanley Meador to be the next Virginia secretary for public safety and homeland security. The choice provides a jarring indication of the radical agenda that Spanberger, a former CIA agent, intends to pursue in her administration. Stanley Meador was the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, office that issued the infamous FBI memo targeting “radical-traditionalist Catholics.”  

In June, Meador was one of many agents fired, demoted, or put on leave by new FBI Director Kash Patel. The New York Times rushed to their defense, of course, characterizing the dismissals as “retaliation” and “politicization” of the Bureau. The Times story on June 5, 2025 claimed that the agents were targeted on an “enemies list” of FBI employees who were being purged for not being personally loyal to Donald Trump. Here are the opening paragraphs of the Times story, titled “As Ousters Continue, F.B.I. Singles Out Employee Over Friendship With Trump Critic:

The F.B.I. has targeted another round of employees who ran afoul of conservatives, forcing out two veteran agents in Virginia — one of whom is friends with a critic of President Trump — and punishing another in Las Vegas, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Two of the men, Spencer Evans and Stanley Meador, are senior agents who ran F.B.I. field offices in Las Vegas and Richmond, Va. The third, Michael Feinberg, a top deputy in the Norfolk, Va., office, had ties to a former agent whom Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, identified in his book as part of the so-called deep state.

The moves add to the transfers, ousters and demotions that have rippled across the F.B.I. as Mr. Patel and Dan Bongino, his No. 2, promise to remake the country’s premier law enforcement agency. The wave of changes, current and former agents say, amount to little more than retaliation, underscoring what they describe as the politicization of the F.B.I. as its leaders seek to mollify Mr. Trump’s supporters.

Naturally, the Times’ spin purposely ignores the facts concerning the agents’ egregious actions, including their participation in the illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral weaponization of the FBI against President Donald Trump and his advisors, appointees, and supporters. More on that down below, but first, back to Governor-elect Spanberger.

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Jack Smith Says Trump Did NOT Have First Amendment Right to Say 2020 Election Was Fraudulent in Newly-Released Deposition

House Judiciary Republicans on Wednesday released a transcript and video of Jack Smith’s closed-door testimony to Congress.

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared on Capitol Hill last month for a closed-door testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

Republican lawmakers called Jack Smith to testify over his “partisan and politically motivated” Trump prosecutions.

Jack Smith was appointed as Special Counsel in 2022 by Joe Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump just one day after Trump announced his 2024 bid for the White House.

In June 2023, Jack Smith indicted Trump on 37 federal counts in Miami for lawfully storing presidential records at his Mar-a-Lago estate, which was protected by Secret Service agents.

In a separate case in Washington DC, Jack Smith indicted Trump on four counts: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Jack Smith defended his inquisition in an opening statement to congressional investigators.

“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” Jack Smith said.

During his deposition, Jack Smith said his prosecutors framed the case against Trump as a fraud case rather than a First Amendment issue.

“Fraud is not protected by the First Amendment, so in my mind it was important to make that clear in the indictment…” Jack Smith said as he boasted about the case ‘prevailing’ in the district court with corrupt Obama-appointed Judge Chutkan.

Two of Jack Smith’s charges against President Trump in the DC case were ultimately torpedoed by the US Supreme Court after it issued a ruling on the obstruction statute – 1512(c)(2).

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Dem lawmaker moves to conceal WA state daycare provider info amid Somali fraud allegations

As independent journalists continue digging into alleged fraud inside Washington’s daycare subsidy system, Democratic State Senator Lisa Wellman has pre-filed legislation that critics say could make it significantly harder for the public to verify whether taxpayer-funded childcare operations even exist.

The proposal, Senate Bill 5926, was pre-filed on December 22 and expands public records exemptions for childcare providers, shielding a broad range of identifying information from disclosure. Supporters frame the measure as a safety tool designed to protect providers from harassment or threats. Opponents argue it is arriving just as journalists are using public data to uncover suspicious daycare listings tied to large sums of taxpayer funding.

SB 5926 comes as independent journalists, inspired by Nick Shirley’s exposure of daycare fraud in Minnesota, have been scouring government websites to find similar fraud across the US. Additionally, Wellman was one of the primary sponsors of the Keep Washington Working Act, the bill that made Washington a so-called “sanctuary state,” and critics of the bill suggest her new legislation is an attempt to shield illegal immigrants from federal authorities.

In the bill’s legislative findings, lawmakers acknowledge that existing confidentiality provisions apply most clearly to licensed family home childcare providers but argue that the same risks now extend to childcare workers in centers and other settings. The bill seeks to widen protections statewide by restricting the disclosure of “personal information” for anyone licensed or certified by the Department of Children, Youth, and Families to provide childcare.

Under the legislation, exempt information would include a wide range of details that could identify a provider or location, such as a person’s name, home address, GPS coordinates, personal phone number, personal email address, date of birth, emergency contact information, and other personally identifying information. It also covers sensitive identifiers like Social Security and taxpayer identification numbers, driver’s license numbers, and financial information such as bank account and direct deposit details. The bill does not limit these protections to home daycare operators; instead, it extends them to licensed family home providers, licensed childcare centers, school-age or out-of-school-time programs, and essentially any location licensed or certified through DCYF.

The bill contains language specifying that certain program-level information must remain public, such as business addresses, program capacity, licensing status, inspection results, and public safety findings required by state or federal law. Yet critics say this limitation provides little comfort, because the current dispute centers on whether state records and publicly available listings are reliable enough to begin with. Watchdogs argue that if the government database contains discrepancies, missing location details, or inconsistent licensing information, the only way for journalists and taxpayers to validate the entries is through independent verification, and restricting identifying information could make those efforts far more difficult.

The bill is also landing amid an intensifying political confrontation between Washington officials and independent journalists who say they are uncovering early warning signs of a subsidy scandal similar to one previously exposed in Minnesota. This week, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown issued a warning aimed squarely at independent journalists, accusing them of harassing daycare providers and engaging in unsafe conduct. Brown said his office had received outreach from members of the Somali community after reports of home-based daycare providers being “harassed and accused of fraud with little to no fact-checking.” He said his office is coordinating with DCYF to evaluate the fraud claims circulating online as well as the reported harassment, and urged anyone contacted by journalists to contact local law enforcement or report incidents to state hotlines and reporting websites.

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PA Police Commissioner Appointed by Democrat Governor Jumps to FBI Despite the Final Butler Report Still Locked Away

The Western District of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Attorney’s Office celebrated what it called a victory for transparency when state prosecutors secured court approval to release a set of grand-jury-subpoenaed records to Congress. The order was made public during the busy holiday season allowing the Department of Justice to share pre-existing business records from the investigation of accused shooter Thomas  Matthew  Crooks in connection with the July  13, 2024  assassination attempt on then former President Donald J. Trump in Butler, PA.

During the Congressional hearings about the assassination attempt Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, captured the mood starkly saying “There were critical failures of security at the event in Butler. It is important that we learn from these failures to better provide safety.” Federal attorneys now frame this document release as proof that law enforcement is being transparent.  Really?

Despite this ruling, at the same time, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) continue to withhold its report on the Butler investigation, quietly leaning on provisions of Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, especially Section 708(b)(16), which classifies “criminal investigative records” as exempt from public release. That legal shield allows the state to bury internal memos, communications, and even full reports without ever disclosing investigative results.  Meanwhile, nothing has been publicly released to date that proves accused shooter, Thomas  Matthew  Crooks, actually fired the shots at the rally.

The story of the Butler assassination attempt continually returns to one image: an elevated roof, with a clear line of sight, left effectively unguarded. Press accounts of official findings describe “stunning security failures” and “the unguarded roof, easily within shooting distance of the rally” where the gunman positioned himself, failures that congressional and independent reviews admit never should have happened. And, most importantly, no ballistic report has ever been made public.

The roof of the AGR Building, and everything that went wrong beneath it, sits squarely with the responsibility of Commissioner  Christopher  L. Paris, the PSP chief during the Butler attempted assassination.  Appointed by Governor Josh Shapiro in 2023, Paris testified before Congress about “stunning” lapses.  In news, again during the busy holiday season, Paris announced he would retire on  January 2, 2026, to take a position with the Federal Bureau of  Investigation (FBI). The Paris transition to the FBI, with Pennsylvania’s official Butler report still locked away, leaves questions regarding transparency, accountability and motive.

For Ablechild, as a national nonprofit fighting to expose behavioral-health industry links to violence, this is proof that “transparency” is selective. When violent bloodshed occurs, a school shooting, an assassination, a sudden act of mass violence, behavioral health usually is behind it, and the key records always stay sealed.

Ablechild argues that the public deserves answers about the family of accused shooter  Thomas  Matthew  Crooks, whose parents are both licensed behavioral-health professionals in Pennsylvania.  It is impossible to understand the Butler violence without examining that connection. Crooks’ parents should have no problem providing all medical, mental-health, and school records. Asking whether their work within the behavioral-health system influenced how warning signs were handled or ignored is common sense.  Material facts, such as whether Crooks had a treatment or medication history, any contact with state-funded behavioral-health programs, or was involved in any experimental clinical drug or device trials?  All of this critical data remains hidden under seal.

Ablechild calls this secrecy a public betrayal. The Department of Justice can proudly release selected documents to Congress, but the FBI and PSP keep their most revealing material out of public reach. Even basic questions are still unanswered, such as who authorized the body to remain on the AGR roof overnight while the medical examiner was ordered to return the following morning to identify the alleged shooter.

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False refugee study used by Dems to justify open borders — and massive spending

Even as massive fraud schemes are uncovered in Minnesota, orchestrated primarily by Somali refugees, Democrats are circling the wagons.

Refugees and asylum seekers provide a substantial net benefit to the United States, they claim, generating more wealth than they take from the government.

But that talking point is based on a federal study that was rejected in 2017 by the first Trump administration as methodologically unsound and preposterous in its conclusions. The study was resurrected and expanded by the Biden administration in 2024.

Today, 73% of Somali households have at least one member enrolled in Medicaid, and 89% of Somali families with children participate in at least one welfare program.

These realities stand in stark contrast to the glowing conclusions of the Biden report, which claims refugees and asylees add a net $8.25 billion annually to federal coffers.

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Jennings: “Until Somebody In POWER Goes To JAIL,” Blue State Fraud Won’t Stop

In a heated CNN clash, conservative commentator Scott Jennings called out the lack of real accountability in Democrat-run states, demanding elected officials face consequences for enabling billion-dollar scams.

Jennings addressed the rot in blue states where massive fraud schemes have flourished under lax oversight. Facing pushback from host Abby Phillip, Jennings insisted that prosecuting small-time operators isn’t enough—real change demands jailing those at the top who allowed it all to happen.

The discussion centred on the sprawling welfare fraud in Minnesota, but Jennings expanded it to a nationwide indictment of blue state governance. When Phillip defended ongoing probes, saying, “This idea that nothing is being done, that no one is being held accountable, that this was just left to run rampant, is completely false,” Jennings countered sharply.

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They Always Threaten Violence

I assume that liberals hear these statements differently than I do, but I also assume that it is because they are conditioned to believe that anybody they don’t like is a violent white supremacist bent on colonialist genocide. 

After all, in the moments after Charlie Kirk was shot, vast numbers of people blamed Kirk for being a divisive figure, and many were glad he died. 

But when I see politicians and commentators, or even reporters, speculating about escalating violence and defending rioting as peaceful First Amendment activity, I hear what I believe they are really saying: stop opposing us, or we will get you. 

What do “Stand Your Ground” laws have to do with YouTubers showing up at daycare centers? Stand your ground laws merely say you don’t have a duty to retreat when you are attacked, and no YouTuber or reporter is threatening anybody with anything except exposure. 

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