1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Congress must vote immediately to reassert its war powers and investigate this unconstitutional military action. Trump launched airstrikes on Venezuela, captured President Nicolás Maduro, and declared the United States will “run the country” without seeking Congressional authorization. Article I of the Constitution grants Congress alone the power to declare war. Trump violated that authority and broke Article 2 of the UN Charter, which forbids using force against another nation’s territorial integrity. Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum called on the United Nations to intervene, citing this exact provision. Multiple allies condemned the strike as illegal, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed alarm. Senator Mike Lee questioned whether the operation was constitutional, while Senator Brian Schatz warned the U.S. has “no vital national interests in Venezuela to justify war.” Trump claims this is about stopping drugs, but on December 1 he pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted of trafficking over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Attorney General Merrick Garland called Hernández the architect of “one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.” Trump freed him anyway. Senator Bill Cassidy asked why we would pardon Hernández and then go after Maduro for running drugs into the United States. The president sits at 36% approval with 60% of Americans disapproving of his performance. He’s losing support on the economy, immigration, and healthcare. An unpopular president failing on the economy and losing his grip on power at home launches a war for regime change abroad. It’s an old pattern. Maduro was a brutal dictator who deserved accountability, but that doesn’t erase Trump’s obligation to follow the Constitution and international law. Hold hearings. Reassert Congressional authority. Stop this before it spirals further.