Hakeem Jeffries calls Venezuela strike and Nicolas Maduro's capture an 'act of war'

WASHINGTON, DC: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on NBC News’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, January 4, to discuss the recent strike in Venezuela and the capture of Nicolas Maduro.

The host of the segment, Kristen Welker, recalled Jeffries’s previous statements calling Maduro a criminal and an authoritarian dictator and asked whether the people of Venezuela were better off without him in power. 

Jeffries agreed that Maduro was a bad person but said that the future of the Venezuelan people was yet to be determined since Trump said that the US would be running the nation. 

Later in the interview, Jeffries said that the attack wasn’t just an attack on n***o-t*****ism but also an “act of war.”

Hakeem Jeffries slams Trump for not seeking Congressional approval

During his ‘Meet the Press’ segment, Hakeem Jeffries was asked about Marco Rubio’s justification for why the administration didn’t seek Congressional approval before attacking Venezuela.

Both Trump and Rubio previously claimed that they were worried about the information being leaked.

Chiming in on the same, Jeffries said that there had been no evidence that there was an immediate threat to national security.

“This was not simply a counter-n*******s operation. It was an act of war,” he said.

The Minority leader explained that the large-scale operation was a military action, involving Delta Force, the army, thousands of troops, and more. Citing the American Constitution, Jeffries said that only Congress had the power to declare war. 

He added that they needed to make sure that there was no military action without congressional approval in the future.

Marco Rubio claims Venezuela strike needed no approval

The Secretary of State Marco Rubio also appeared on ‘Meet the Press’ the same day as Hakeem Jeffries.

During his conversation with Kristen Welker, Rubio was questioned about why the administration didn’t wait for congressional approval.

Rubio explained that the strike did not require approval because it was not an invasion. 

“This is not an extended military operation. This is a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action,” he told Welker.

Rubio added that it was a “delicate” operation that required multiple conditions to be in place at the right time. He also explained that the Trump administration could not risk any information being leaked, or else it would have endangered the mission.