Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to brief lawmakers on the U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Mr. Rubio will brief the “Gang of 12” Democrat and Republican leaders from the House and Senate.
Democrats have reportedly said they’ve been left out of some meetings on the drug boat strikes, which occurred in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela and in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Colombia.
Ms. Leavitt said the administration has briefed Congress on strikes eight times, and Democrats have been included.
“The president made it very clear — if senators want to understand the administration’s operations against narco drug traffickers, we are very happy to speak with them about that, and we will continue to do so, but we’ve been incredibly transparent,” she said. “There have been eight briefings on this topic, with the ninth coming tomorrow.”
There has been criticism from both sides of the aisle over the increasing number of strikes, and lawmakers argue that the president needs to get congressional approval for the military action.
Whether the U.S. has the authority to wage this military campaign against the alleged drug boats has even been discussed internationally.
There have been over a dozen strikes and over 60 reported deaths.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced another strike over the weekend, claiming three suspected drug smugglers were killed.
“This vessel — like EVERY OTHER — was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Mr. Hegseth wrote on X.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he has no connections to the drug boats and that Mr. Trump is trying to drive him from power.
Mr. Trump said that land strikes on drug-related targets in Venezuela could be next, but then backed down from that threat.
