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Practically six years in the past, Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer delivered a Senate ground speech slamming President Donald Trump’s State of the Union remarks in 2020, together with ripping the president over the very fact Venezuelan dictatorial president Nicolás Maduro was nonetheless in energy.
Quick-forward to the U.S. arrest of Maduro on sweeping narcotics expenses underneath the second Trump administration, Schumer is accusing the Trump administration of probably sparking an “limitless warfare” in Venezuela with Maduro’s elimination from energy.
“Possibly his finest metaphor was his declare to deliver democracy to Venezuela. There’s an enormous coverage there. It flopped,” Schumer stated in February 2020, only a day after Trump delivered his State of the Union tackle that yr touting that Maduro’s dictatorship will probably be “smashed and damaged.”
“The president brags about his Venezuela coverage? Give us a break. He hasn’t introduced an finish to the Maduro regime,” Schumer continued. “The Maduro regime is extra highly effective immediately and extra entrenched immediately than it was when the president started his anti-Maduro. Similar factor with North Korea, identical factor with China, identical factor with Russia. Similar factor with Syria.”
MAMDANI-LINKED DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS DEMAND TRUMP FREE MADURO FROM LOCKUP — AND SEND HIM BACK TO POWER
Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer criticized the Trump administration’s strike on Venezuela and seize of its dictatorial president Nicolas Maduro Jan. 3, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Picture)
Trump invited former then-Venezuelan opposition chief Juan Guaidó to Washington, D.C., to attend his State of the Union tackle, figuring out him because the “legit” chief of Venezuela as Maduro clung to energy. Guaidó declared himself interim president after Venezuela’s opposition-led Nationwide Meeting stated Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.
“America is main a 59-nation diplomatic coalition in opposition to the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro,” Trump stated in his speech earlier than pointing to Guaidó’s presence on the joint session of Congress. “Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his folks. However Maduro’s grip on tyranny will probably be smashed and damaged.”
Schumer stated in his Senate speech the subsequent day that Guaidó’s presence on the State of the Union was proof Trump’s overseas insurance policies weren’t efficient, or the opposition chief would have been within the president’s palace and never D.C.
Trump confirmed a profitable U.S. army operation in Venezuela Saturday morning that led to the seize of Maduro and his spouse, who have been swiftly transported to the U.S. to face legal trial in New York. The Venezuelan dictator was charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine weapons and harmful units and conspiracy to own machine weapons and harmful units.
Nicolás Maduro and different officers within the regime have been indicted in 2020 underneath the primary Trump administration for allegedly working a large-scale narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking conspiracy. (Pedro Rances Mattey/Anadolu through Getty Photographs)
Maduro, in addition to different officers within the regime, have been indicted in 2020 underneath the primary Trump administration for allegedly working a large-scale narco-terrorism and drug-trafficking conspiracy. Maduro denied such expenses and was not arrested to face trial. His 2026 expenses expanded on the 2020 indictment.
MADURO’S CAPTURE IS ‘BEGINNING OF THE END’ FOR CUBA’S REGIME, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CHAIR SAYS
Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, first reported to court docket Monday.
Information of the operation unfold like wildfire the world over Saturday, as many Democrat lawmakers took problem with the administration finishing up the strike and seize with out first notifying Congress. Schumer was amongst outstanding Democrats voicing outrage over the operation, saying it threw open the doorways to an “limitless warfare.”
“Maduro is a horrible, horrible individual, however you do not deal with lawlessness with different lawlessness, and that is what’s occurred right here,” Schumer instructed “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos Sunday. “There isn’t any authority … they didn’t simply do ships off the water. They went inside Venezuela, bombed civilian in addition to army locations, and it is a violation of the regulation to do what they did with out getting the authorization of Congress.”
President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago membership, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Seashore, Fla. (Alex Brandon/The Related Press)
“The American individuals are fearful that that is creating an limitless warfare,” he added. “The very factor that Donald Trump campaigned in opposition to over and again and again was no extra limitless wars. And proper now, we’re headed proper into one, with no boundaries, with no dialogue.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Schumer’s workplace and the White Home concerning Schumer’s 2020 remarks however didn’t instantly replies.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy additionally criticized the Trump administration in 2019 for not intervening in Venezuela as Guaidó declared himself interim president and protests broke out on the streets of the nation.
“If Trump cared about consistency, he would make the realist case for intervention in Venezuela (eliminating Maduro is nice for america) relatively than attempting to fake his Administration the entire sudden cares about toppling anti-democratic regimes,” Murphy wrote on X on the time. “Lastly, do not get me unsuitable – I help a U.S. overseas coverage that cares deeply about democracy. I feel we’re higher off urgent for political reform in all places we do enterprise or have pursuits, not simply the place the place the man who controls the oil would not like us.”
Murphy stated Sunday throughout an look on CNN that “there are evil, brutal dictators everywhere in the world. That doesn’t give the American president the fitting to invade these nations, largely as a result of now we have seen how this script performs out.”
NAVY SECRETARY PRAISES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S MADURO CAPTURE AS ‘MASTERCLASS IN PRECISION’
Trump and his administration have celebrated the seize as successful, noting that no U.S. army personnel or gear was misplaced through the operation whereas additionally defending criticism from Democrats. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Sunday morning information reveals the place he was grilled in regards to the operation, together with why Congress had not been notified previous to its launch.
“This was not an motion that required congressional approval,” Rubio instructed NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Actually, it couldn’t require congressional approval as a result of this was not an invasion. This isn’t an prolonged army operation. This can be a very exact operation that concerned a few hours of motion. It was a really delicate operation, too. It was one which required all these circumstances to be in place on the proper time, in the fitting place.”
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Rubio added that officers couldn’t danger congressional leaks, as such info might have “endangered the mission and gotten folks killed, or killed off the mission within the optionality.”
