Former Vice President Kamala Harris waited most of Saturday before finally joining Democrat lawmakers to condemn the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, saying the move will not “make America safer, stronger and more affordable.”
In a lengthy post on X Saturday evening, the former presidential candidate acknowledged Maduro was a “brutal, illegitimate dictator” but wrote that “does not change the fact that the action was unlawful and unwise.”
Harris waited until the evening before commenting after President Donald Trump told the New York Times in the predawn hours that Maduro and Flores, the former president of the country’s national assembly, were captured and transported out of Venezuela as part of “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
Democrat lawmakers quickly condemn the operation after the story broke, as Breitbart News reported, including Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) who at 5:33 a.m Eastern called the raid “not sound foreign policy.”
“They assured me that they were not pursuing those things,” Schumer said.
In 8:05 pm Eastern post, Harris finally chimed in, “The American people do not want this, and they are tired of being lied to.”
The former VP continued:
This is not about drugs or democracy. It is about oil and Donald Trump’s desire to play the regional strongman. If he cared about either, he wouldn’t pardon a convicted drug trafficker or sideline Venezuela’s legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro’s cronies.
The President is putting troops at risk, spending billions, destabilizing a region, and offering no legal authority, no exit plan, and no benefit at home.
Twice Harris alleged the operation and its aftermath was about oil, resurrecting the ubiquitous Democratic talking point leveled against the Bush administration in its 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“We’ve seen this movie before,” she wrote. “Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”
Earlier Saturday, authorities escorted Maduro and Flores into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being transported by helicopter from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) offices in Manhattan after being processed.
President Donald Trump told reporters in a news conference at Mar-a-Lago Saturday the U.S. government will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
RELATED: President Trump — Running Venezuela Is America First
Also during his Saturday news conference, President Trump said no troops were killed or equipment lost during the special forces operation to grab Maduro.
Harris, however, claimed the president had put American soldiers in harm’s way.
“The President is putting troops at risk,” she wrote, “spending billions, destabilizing a region, and offering no legal authority, no exit plan, and no benefit at home.”
She concluded, “America needs leadership whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening alliances, and — most importantly — putting the American people first.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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