Chris Murphy blasts Trump's Venezuela strike, warns against invading sovereign nations
WASHINGTON, DC: Sen Chris Murphy sharply criticized the Trump administration’s decision to carry out a major military operation in Venezuela, arguing that the existence of brutal regimes around the world does not give the United States the right to invade sovereign nations.
“Listen, there are evil, brutal dictators all over the world. That does not give the American president the right to invade those countries,” Murphy said on Sunday, January 4, during an appearance on CNN’s 'State of the Union' with Dana Bash.
He warned that history has repeatedly shown how such interventions can spiral into prolonged conflict.
Murphy referenced Bash’s earlier interview with Sen Tom Cotton, noting what he described as troubling echoes of past justifications for war.
Chris Murphy compares Venezuela operation with Iraq
The Connecticut senator argued that the rhetoric surrounding Venezuela mirrored arguments used to justify previous US military interventions, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
“Over and over again, we have seen these warmongering neoconservatives, many of whom have influence in this White House, cheerlead us into war under the guise of removing a very bad man,” Murphy said.
The invasion of Venezuela has nothing to do with American security. Venezuela is not a security threat to the U.S..
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 4, 2026
This is about making Trump's oil industry and Wall Street friends rich. Trump's foreign policy - the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela - is fundamentally corrupt. pic.twitter.com/alGWtnjrSO
He cautioned that optimism about quick victories often ignored the long-term consequences of military action.
The comments came amid growing debate in Washington over whether the US action in Venezuela risked repeating mistakes that many lawmakers and analysts viewed as unjustified or disastrous.
Trump announces strike and capture of Nicolas Maduro
On Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US forces had carried out what he described as a “large scale strike” on Caracas, the Venezuelan capital.
He also confirmed that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been captured by US troops during the operation.
Trump said that the United States would temporarily “run” Venezuela following Maduro’s capture, pending a transition to a new government.
Marco Rubio pushes back on Iraq comparisons
Senior administration officials rejected the notion that Venezuela should be viewed through the same lens as US wars in the Middle East.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed the comparisons during an interview with CBS News’ 'Face the Nation', arguing that critics are trapped in outdated thinking shaped by conflicts from the early 2000s.
“I still think that a lot of people analyze everything that happens in foreign policy through the lens of what happened from 2001 to 2015 or 2016,” Rubio said.
“The whole foreign policy apparatus thinks everything is Libya, everything is Iraq, everything is Afghanistan.” “This is not the Middle East. And our mission here is very different. This is the Western Hemisphere,” he added.
