1. United States
2. Ill.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose President Trump's unauthorized military strike against Venezuela that occurred Saturday morning. This action, which involved bombing a foreign capital, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, and removing them from the country, was conducted without congressional authorization and violates constitutional requirements for military action. Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged there was no pre-attack consultation with Congress. This is not a minor procedural oversight. The Constitution explicitly grants Congress the power to authorize military action, and this strike constitutes an act of war against a sovereign nation. Senator Tim Kaine of the Senate Armed Services Committee has correctly called this invasion illegal and promised to seek a Senate vote declaring Trump should not be waging unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela. The justifications offered for this action do not hold up to scrutiny. The administration cites drug trafficking charges, yet Trump pardoned a major narco trafficker just last month. The timing is also suspect given that Maduro had recently signaled openness to meeting with Trump to discuss U.S. allegations about drug trafficking. This appears to be about regime change and oil, not legitimate national security concerns. As Senator Brian Schatz noted, the U.S. has no vital national interests in Venezuela to justify war. Senator Ruben Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq, has drawn parallels to that conflict, stating he lived through the consequences of an illegal war sold to the American people with lies. Senator Andy Kim warns this action puts Americans at risk, sends a disturbing signal that targeting heads of state is acceptable U.S. policy, and will damage America's reputation internationally. I urge you to join Senator Kaine and others in demanding congressional authorization be required before any further military action in Venezuela, and to support measures that would end this illegal war. The Constitution must be upheld.