1. United States
2. Ala.
3. Letter

I am deeply concerned by the attacks off the coast of Venezuela over the past several months and what has now occurred on January 3, 2025, when the Trump administration ordered military strikes on Venezuela (https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/venezuela-us-military-strikes-maduro-trump/) and captured President Maduro and his wife to charge them in the US for drug trafficking (https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/03/maduro-drug-trafficking-charges-bondi-justice-department-00709639), with no congressional approval for this military action. Congress must return from recess immediately to rein in these aggressive and illegal acts of war. Congress has not authorized military force (https://archive.is/6k3EN) against Venezuela or Tren de Aragua, nor is self-defense an accepted basis for summarily killing suspected drug traffickers in the earlier attacks. Some Defense officials have labeled these acts as attacks on civilians (https://archive.is/poq9c). While many details remain murky, one thing is clear: the Trump administration is labeling people as “terrorists” to justify unilaterally murdering people. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) condemned “killing someone without a trial (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/07/jd-vance-venezuelan-boat-strike-rand-paul),” while other Senators raised concerns (https://archive.is/UKLQi) about facing retaliation for the Trump administration’s potential war crimes. Lawmakers must publicly investigate these attacks and condemn the administration’s ongoing abuses of power and lawless violence. At this time, I expect you will engage with your fellow Congress members to: • hold public hearings to investigate the legality and justification for the administration's aggressive use of military force, and • call for the impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and • demand the resignation of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, and • support articles of impeachment and move to convict Trump for his repeated defiance of the law.