Secret memo, public strikes: Trump's Venezuela gambit tests war powers [View all]
Source: MS NOW/MSNBC News
Jan. 3, 2026, 6:49 AM EST
The Trump administration’s months-long campaign against Venezuela culminated Saturday in a series of strikes in Caracas and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro — an extraordinary escalation that makes the administration’s refusal to publicly explain its legal justification for military involvement even more urgent.
President Donald Trump announced the operation in a 4:21 a.m. Truth Social post, revealing that U.S. forces had seized Maduro and flown him out of the country to face criminal charges in the United States. The action, which Trump did not seek congressional authorization for, represents the most aggressive use of military force against a foreign head of state in a generation.
For months, Trump has escalated military strikes targeting boats emanating from Venezuela, and warned of potential ground operations in the country — a threat that became more pressing following a drone strike on a dockyard that, unlike the boat strikes, took place on Venezuelan land.
The administration has cited a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memo to justify strikes against 35 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. But the memo — whose existence has been reported by the Washington Post, but not independently verified by MS NOW — and its arguments remain classified, leaving Congress and the public without clarity about the administration’s legal reasoning.
Read more: https://www.ms.now/news/venezuela-strikes-legal-justification-trump
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