A person close to the White House said the Trump administration is set to continue escalating pressure against the Venezuelan regime, and it will only coordinate its actions with Congress "when (authoritarian President Nicolas) Maduro's corpse is in U.S. custody."
The person made the claim while discussing with Semafor criticism against the legal justifications for the administration's strikes off Venezuela and Colombia.
The outlet noted that so far the White House has held six classified briefings for lawmakers about the pressure campaign. Most Republicans remain supportive of the campaign, with some even taunting the Maduro regime and claiming its end is near. Others, however, are voicing doubts.
Republican Sen. Todd Young said on Thursday he is seeking to "learn more" about the campaign, telling Axios that "Congress isn't hearing enough — in any form, including a public forum." He went on to say that lawmakers need to be involved in the discussion of legal ramifications of the strikes.
"I think Congress needs to go further. Rather than just asserting our ability to authorize military force — which we certainly need to do — we also need to officially bring to close these conflicts and make clear that we have constitutional prerogatives that need to be consistently asserted," Young added.
The lawmaker has also requested a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to discuss the campaign, and asked the Upper House's Foreign Relations Committee to hold oversight hearings.
Moreover, Sen. Rand Paul joined a bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, which will force a vote to stop Trump from unilaterally declaring war on the South American country.
Paul addressed the move in a social media publication, claiming "it's imperative that we make it clear that war powers reside with Congress, not the president."
Trump seemingly intends to move ahead with the campaign despite the reservations. "I don't think we're necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war, I think we're just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We're going to kill them. They're going to be, like dead," he said on Thursday, claiming the administration intends to take on cartels operating in the country and led by regime members.
Maduro, on his end, said his regime has "more than 5,000" Russian-made Igla-S surface-to-air missiles positioned across the country, warning that they stand ready to defend the country should the U.S. conduct strikes in its territory.
"Any military force in the world knows the power of the Igla-S," Maduro said during a televised address. "Venezuela has nothing less than 5,000 of these at key air defense posts to guarantee the peace, stability and tranquility of our people." He described the Igla-S as "one of the most powerful weapons that exist," adding that the nation's air defense operators were fully trained to use them "from the last mountain to the last city."
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