Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) claimed President Donald Trump’s focus on Venezuela was risking the military’s ability to respond to conflicts in other parts of the world.
Host Margaret Brennan said, “On Venezuela, since you are the ranking member on Senate Foreign Relations, I want to make sure I ask you, the president said he has sort of made up his mind on what to do about Venezuela. You were one of the very few senators who have received, briefings within the past few weeks from Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth, regarding the strikes that are being carried out on these small, fast-moving boats. Is there a clear endgame here? And is your understanding that ousting Nicolas Maduro from power is part of the administration’s plan?”
Shaheen said, “I don’t think it’s clear what the endgame is for this administration with respect to Venezuela. They are relying on a legal opinion, and excuse me, in terms of the boat strikes, that they have not released, they have finally made it available to members of Congress, but they haven’t released it to the public. They are escalating in a way that, talking about a land strike, through special operations that puts at risk our men and women in the military. We have so much firepower now in the Caribbean that Gerald R Ford has been taken from the Red Sea, so that now we don’t have any firepower, really, in the Middle East as we look at the threats there. We don’t have, what we need, I think, in the Indo-Pacific or in Europe. And so what the president has done here is to put at risk, other parts of the world and Americans in other parts of the world for this fascination on trying to get rid of Nicolas Maduro and Venezuela, who, clearly is, a bad character. He’s been involved and, illegal drugs, but he is not a threat to the United States of America. And what the president is doing is raising real questions.”
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