President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was taken into custody this weekend and would be tried in the U.S. on narcoterrorism charges.
Republicans like Congressman Andy Biggs have praised the move while Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego is criticizing it.
“We’re lucky it has gone as well as it has so far because we have a great military force," Gallego told NBC News. "It’s great that you know in all essence Maduro is out. The fact is we violated the constitution of the United States.”
Gallego said the American people have made it clear that they don’t want the U.S. being the world police. Gallego is a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee and said he was misled by the administration at recent briefings.
"Secretary [Marco] Rubio and Secretary [Pete] Hegseth both said that this is not a precursor to us doing regime change, 'No everything you're seeing in front of you is not an opportunity to build toward war versus Venezuela.' I said it was actually that and look, lo and behold this is what happened."
In a post on social media, Gallego said: “The American people did not ask for this, Congress did not authorize this, and our service members should not be sent into harm’s way for another unnecessary conflict.”
There is no justification for the United States to be at war with Venezuela.
— Senator Ruben Gallego (@SenRubenGallego) January 3, 2026
I lived through the consequences of an illegal war sold to the American people with lies. We swore we would never repeat those mistakes. Yet here we are again.
The American people did not ask for this,…
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