Rubio, Hegseth Brief Congress Leaders  01/06 06:11

   Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials briefed leaders in 
Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in Venezuela amid 
mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a new era of U.S. 
expansionism without consultation of lawmakers or a clear vision for running 
the South American country.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials 
briefed leaders in Congress late Monday on the striking military operation in 
Venezuela amid mounting concerns that President Donald Trump is embarking on a 
new era of U.S. expansionism without consultation of lawmakers or a clear 
vision for running the South American country.

   Republican leaders entered the closed-door session at the Capitol largely 
supportive of Trump's decision to forcibly remove Venezuela's president Nicols 
Maduro from power, but many Democrats emerged with more questions as Trump 
maintains a fleet of naval vessels off the Venezuelan coast and urges U.S. 
companies to reinvest in the country's underperforming oil industry.

   A war powers resolution that would prohibit U.S. military action in 
Venezuela without approval from Congress is heading for a vote this week in the 
Senate.

   "We don't expect troops on the ground," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, 
R-La., said afterward.

   He said Venezuela's new leadership cannot be allowed to engage in 
narcoterrorism or the trafficking of drugs into the U.S., which sparked Trump's 
initial campaign of deadly boat strikes that have killed more than 115 people.

   "This is not a regime change. This is demand for a change in behavior," 
Johnson said. "We don't expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just 
coercing the new, the interim government, to get that going."

   Johnson added, "We have a way of persuasion -- because their oil exports as 
you know have been seized, and I think that will bring the country to a new 
governance in very short order," he said.

   But Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the ranking Democrat on the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee, emerged saying, "There are still many more 
questions that need to be answered."

   "What is the cost? How much is this going to cost the United States of 
America?" Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign 
Affairs Committee, said afterward.

   Lawmakers were kept in the dark

   The briefing, which stretched for two hours, came days after the surprise 
military action that few, if any, of the congressional leaders, knew about 
until after it was underway -- a remarkable delay in informing Congress, which 
has ultimate say over matters of war.

   Administration officials fielded a range of questions -- from further 
involvement of U.S. troops on the ground to the role of the Venezuelan 
opposition leadership that appeared to have been sidelined by the Trump 
administration as the country's vice president, Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez, 
swiftly became the country's interim president.

   Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Air Force 
Gen. Dan Caine and Attorney General Pam Bondi, who brought drug trafficking 
charges against Maduro, all joined the classified session. It was intended for 
the so-called "gang of eight" leaders, which includes Intelligence committee 
leadership as well as the chairmen and ranking lawmakers on the national 
security committees.

   Asked afterward if he had any more clarity about who is actually running 
Venezuela, Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, 
said, "I wish I could tell you yes, but I can't."

   Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- Republican chairman Sen. Chuck 
Grassley of Iowa and ranking Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois -- said 
they should have been included in the classified briefing, arguing they have 
oversight of the Justice Department under Bondi.

   Earlier in the day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer warned that 
Trump's action in Venezuela is only the beginning of a dangerous approach to 
foreign policy as the president publicly signals his interests in Colombia, 
Cuba and Greenland.

   "The American people did not sign up for another round of endless wars," 
Schumer said.

   Afterward, Schumer said the briefing, "while extensive and long, posed far 
more questions than it answered."

   Republicans hold mixed views reflective of the deepening schism within 
Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement as the president, who vowed to put 
America first, ventures toward overseas entanglements many lawmakers in both 
parties want to avoid -- particularly after the long wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan.

   No clarity on what comes next

   Next steps in the country, and calls for elections in Venezuela, are 
uncertain.

   The Trump administration had been in talks with Rodrguez, who took the 
place of her ally Maduro and offered "to collaborate" with the Trump 
administration. Meanwhile, Trump has been dismissive of Venezuelan opposition 
leader Mara Corina Machado, who last month won the Nobel Peace Prize for her 
struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her nation. Trump has said 
Machado lacks the "support" or "respect" to run the country.

   But Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a staunch Trump ally, said he plans to speak 
soon with Machado, and called her "very popular if you look at what happened in 
the last election."

   "She eventually, I think, will be the president of Venezuela," Scott said. 
"You know, this is going to be a process to get to a democracy. It's not easy. 
There's a lot of bad people still there, so it's going to take time. They are 
going to have an election and I think she will get elected."

   Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has been a leading critic of the Trump campaign 
of boat strikes against suspected drug smugglers, said there are probably a 
dozen leaders around the world who the U.S. could say are in violation of an 
international law or human rights law.

   "And we have never gone in and plucked them out the country. So it sets a 
very bad precedent for doing this and it's unconstitutional," Paul told 
reporters. "There's no way you can say bombing a capital and removing the 
president of a foreign country is not an initiation of war."