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How Trump circumventing Congress is different from previous presidents [View all]
How Trump circumventing Congress is different from previous presidents
Robert Tait in Washington
The disdain as to why information on the Maduro raid was withheld even from senior lawmakers is unmistakable
Sun 4 Jan 2026 06.00 EST
snip//
Under Trump 2.0, no approval was sought for the mass military build-up off Venezuela’s shores or the estimated 35 lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats that have killed at least 115 people since last September. Similarly, the deployment of a vast military force off Venezuela, including the largest US aircraft carrier, was carried out without seeking authorization.
The disdain implicit in the explanations from Trump and Marco Rubio as to why information on the Maduro raid was withheld even from senior congressional figures – that they cannot be trusted because they might leak – is unmistakable.
“It’s just simply not the kind of mission you can call people and say: ‘Hey, we may do this at some point in the next 15 days,’” Rubio told reporters.
Stung by this haughty disregard, congressional Democrats hit out ferociously on Saturday, with insistent demands to be briefed on future actions.
“President Trump has made no secret of his intentions to effectively abolish the Congress, and that pattern continues today with his flagrant disregard for the Article 1 war powers of Congress, which is essential to our constitutional system of checks and balances,” said Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker.
more...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/04/trump-congress-venezuela-attack
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