Trump Rejects Seeking Declaration Of War From Congress For Military Campaign In The Caribbean: 'We're Just Going To Kill People Bringing Drugs'

President Donald Trump rejected seeking a declaration of war from Congress for his administration's military campaign against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern pacific and against the Venezuelan regime.

Asked why not to seek one if Congress would be likely to approve it, Trump said "we're just going to kill the people bringing drugs into our country." "We're going to kill them So they're going to be, like, dead," Trump added.

Many Democrats and even Republicans have criticized Trump for going over Congress with the military campaign, which has involved over 20 strikes against alleged drug vessels and killed more than 80 people.

The most high-profile Republican critic is Sen. Rand Paul, who said the administration is "pretending we are 'at war'" to "justify blowing up boats all without a vote, without transparency and without answering to Congress."

"If it's war, declare it. If it's not, stop acting like it is," Paul said in a social media publication that included an appearance on CBS News' Face the Nation.

Paul had also claimed it is unclear whether the vessels are in fact carrying narcotics and noted that the error rate is generally high.

Speaking to outlet Reason, Paul said that "when the Coast Guard boards vessels, 1 in 4 do not have drugs on board." "The error rate is about 25%. It is hard to imagine that civilized people would tolerate blowing up people if the error rate was 1 in 4."

Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin also voiced concern on the matter, saying it is unclear whether the campaign is "just a bluff or signaling some intent from the U.S. military to go in and take military action in Venezuelan soil, even potentially thinking about taking out their problematic president."

"The U.S. is not particularly good at regime change. As someone who served in Iraq, believe me, I saw that first hand. And I think most people are pretty tired at the idea of going into another war. I'm calling for public hearings. The Secretary of Defense should come down and air out the conversation on whether we are going to take military action," she added.

The administration, however, is ramping up oressure. On Monday, a NewsNation journalist claimed that the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) is restricting leave over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in preparation for potential land strikes in the coming days. Kellie Meyer cited a source who noted that the possible land strikes could take place "in the next 10 days to two weeks."

The report took place on the same day in which the U.S. officially designated the Cartel de los Soles, which the U.S. accuses Maduro and other top officials of leading, as a terrorist organization. However, Trump could also have a conversation with Maduro, another report added.