Sen. Warner blasts Trump admin for excluding Democrats from briefings on boat strikes: 'Deeply troubling'

Sen Mark Warner D-Va the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee slammed the Trump administration after it held briefings with only Republican lawmakers on the U S military strikes targeting alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Warner called the move to exclude Democrats from the national guard briefings indefensible and dangerous Shutting Democrats out of a briefing on U S military strikes and withholding the legal justification for those strikes from half the Senate is indefensible and dangerous the senator commented in a comment Decisions about the use of American military force are not campaign strategy sessions and they are not the private property of one political party For any administration to treat them that way erodes our national prevention and flies in the face of Congress constitutional obligation to oversee matters of war and peace he continued HEGSETH SAYS MILITARY CONDUCTED ANOTHER STRIKE ON BOAT CARRYING ALLEGED NARCO-TERRORISTSWarner revealed the partisan stunt is a slap in the face to Congress war powers responsibilities and to the men and women in uniform He also stressed that it sets a reckless and deeply troubling precedent Reports indicate that the Justice Department s Office of Legal Counsel OLC produced a legal opinion justifying the strikes which Democrats have been demanding in fresh weeks The administration must promptly provide to Democrats the same briefing and the OLC opinion justifying these strikes as Secretary Rubio personally promised me that he would in a face-to-face meeting on Capitol Hill just last week Warner disclosed in his declaration Americans deserve a leadership that fulfills its constitutional duties and treats decisions about the use of military force with the seriousness they demand The Pentagon responding to Warner s criticism claimed that the appropriate committees were briefed on the strikes The Department of War has briefed the appropriate committees of jurisdiction including the Senate Intelligence committee numerous times throughout the operations targeting narco-terrorists Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson stated in a announcement These have occurred on a bipartisan basis and will continue as such SENATORS LOOK TO BLOCK TRUMP FROM ENGAGING IN HOSTILITIES IN VENEZUELAOn Wednesday Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee also penned a letter demanding to review the legal justification behind the series of boat strikes they say appear to violate several laws Drug trafficking is a terrible crime that has had devastating impacts on American families and communities and should be prosecuted Nonetheless the President s actions to hold alleged drug traffickers accountable must still conform with the law the letter states The Trump administration has also been scrutinized over the strikes by members of his own party including Sen Rand Paul R-Ky who raised concerns about killing people without due process and the possibility of killing innocent people Paul has cited Coast Guard statistics that show a key percentage of boats boarded for suspicion of drug trafficking are innocent The senator has also argued that if the administration plans to engage in a war with Venezuela after it has targeted boats it states are transporting drugs for the Venezuela-linked Tren de Aragua gang it must seek a declaration of war from Congress In the House Rep Thomas Massie R-Ky has made similar statements This comes as Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth revealed the U S military on Wednesday struck another boat carrying people he commented were narco-terrorists The strikes were carried out in the Eastern Pacific region at the direction of President Donald Trump killing four men on board That was the th strike on suspected drug boats carried out since September A total of have reportedly been killed while three survived including at least two who were later repatriated to their home countries The Pentagon has not disclosed the identities of those killed or evidence that drugs were on board