Rep. Jim Himes says Maduro capture is "clearly illegal under international law"

Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that the operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was "clearly illegal under international law," while pointing to broader implications.

"Think of what Russia and China just learned," Himes said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan." "Russia and China just learned that all you need to do if you want to go into Estonia is to say that the leader of Estonia is a bad person. You don't even need to make a particularly good case." 

The U.S. carried out airstrikes in Venezuela and captured Maduro early Saturday morning. He arrived Saturday night at a detention center in New York City, where he is set to be arraigned Monday on federal charges related to drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations. Maduro has denied the charges.

President Trump and his administration have lauded the operation to bring the "outlaw dictator" to justice. But Himes said "there's no national security expert saying that Venezuela was a mortal threat to the United States."

"So what China and Russia just learned is that the beacon of liberty and rule of law in the world has now green lighted snatch-and-grab operations in Estonia, in Taiwan, wherever Xi and Putin decide they want to go next," Himes said.

The Connecticut Democrat added that it's also "clearly not legal under the Constitution, because though presidents of both parties have argued against this, the Constitution is really pretty clear that the representatives of the people get to be consulted and ultimately approve military activity."

"That has not happened here at all," Himes said. 

Himes said he was "delighted to hear that Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been in regular contact with the administration," saying he's had "zero outreach" and isn't aware of any other Democrats who have received outreach either. 

"So apparently, we're now in a world where the legal obligation to keep the Congress informed only applies to your party, which is really something," he added.

The administration has defended the strikes and capture of Maduro, citing the indictment brought against him by U.S. federal prosecutors in 2020 on charges related to drug trafficking and working with gangs designated as terrorist organizations.

Himes pointed to the reaction from Republican lawmakers and other officials so far, saying "we're in the euphoria period of acknowledging across the board that Maduro was a bad guy and that our military is absolutely incredible."

"This is exactly the euphoria we felt in 2002 when our military took down the Taliban in Afghanistan," Himes said. "In 2003 when our military took out Saddam Hussein, and in 2011 when we helped remove Muammar Qaddafi from power in Libya."

Himes said "what we learned the day after the euphoria phase is it's an awful lot easier to break a country than it is to actually do what the president promised to do, which is to run it."

The president said during a news conference Saturday that the U.S. will "run" Venezuela "until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition."

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, also criticized the operation on "Face the Nation," accusing the Trump administration of "lying to the American people."

"This has never been about stopping drugs from coming to the United States," Van Hollen said. "We all support stopping drugs. This, from the beginning, has been about getting rid of Maduro, grabbing Venezuela's oil for American oil companies and Trump's billionaire buddies. That's what this is about. That's why Donald Trump spent so much time yesterday talking about oil."

During a news conference on Saturday, Mr. Trump repeatedly mentioned Venezuela's oil reserves. Venezuela has the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world. The president said U.S. oil companies would go into Venezuela and "spend billions of dollars" to fix the country's oil infrastructure.

Van Hollen said the administration "took out the leader, and now they're demanding access to Venezuela's oil. That's what this has been about."

"This is what drives Donald Trump," he added.