House Democrats fume over Venezuela drug boat briefing: 'I heard no strategy'

Several Democratic lawmakers on Thursday lambasted the Trump administration after attending a classified security briefing regarding recent missile strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats, stating it was not clear what the "end game" was.

The Trump administration has struck multiple drug boats in the Caribbean and Venezuela recently, including an attack Wednesday that killed four people. The administration claims the boats are bringing illicit drugs to the United States.

Some Democratic members on the House Armed Services Committee said they were not satisfied with the answers the administration provided during a members-only classified briefing. 

Some questions were also unanswered because no government lawyers were at the briefing, according to The Hill.

“Our job is to oversee the use of lethal force by our military outside of the United States, and I’m walking away without an understanding of how and why they’re making an assessment that the use of lethal force is adequate here," Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow told reporters. 

“You know what I heard today was a tactical brief," he continued. "I heard no strategy, no end game, no assessment of how they are going to end the flow of drugs into the United States, which needs to happen, by the way."

California Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs criticized the administration for claiming they were trying to end the fentanyl crisis with the strikes and yet primarily hitting boats transporting cocaine.

"They admitted that all of the narcotics coming out of this part of the world is cocaine," she said. "They, you know, talked a little bit about the connection between cocaine and fentanyl, although I’m not convinced that what they said was accurate. And I think it goes to show that this is actually not about addressing fentanyl and the deaths of Americans, which is a really huge problem that we should be addressing.” 

House Armed Services Chairman Mike Rogers said there will be more briefings on the strikes in the future, and White House spokesperson Anna Kelly slammed House Democrats for trying to distract from the government shutdown. 

“It’s pathetic that these Democrats care more about running cover for foreign drug smugglers and illegal immigrants seeking taxpayer-funded health care than paying federal workers and protecting American citizens from deadly narcotics,” she told The Hill. 

Kelly also noted that there have been nine bipartisan briefings on the strikes so far. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.