UPDATED 1/5 am: Sen. Kaine on CBS Mornings this morning, says the White House needs to explain “why this is legal…why it’s a smart thing to do…what the purpose is – is it narcotrafficking…oil…regime change…this bizarre ‘Donroe Doctrine’ that says we can dominate all nations in the Americas…they want to hide the rationale from the American public…Whether Donald Trump wants to follow the Constitution or not does not give a pass to members of Congress to not follow the Constitution…There was an election that produced a winning slate…the opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, won a Nobel Peace Prize…[Trump] has ushered in a Vice President who was Maduro’s right-hand woman, who yesterday claimed that the attack was motivated by Zionists (!); the President has ushered in this particular wingnut to run Venezuela hoping that she will cooperate with the United States.”
Loaded, leading, biased questions as always from right-wing-propaganda Fox “News,” but Sen. Tim Kaine handled them well regardless. Thanks to The Bulwark for grabbing these video clips!
- Sen. Kaine: “It’s never the wrong time to enforce the Constitution. The Constitution says the United States shouldn’t be at war without a vote of Congress. This president has waged military action against Iran, Nigeria, boats in open waters and now Venezuela. And so, yes, I’m going to insist that my colleagues vote on whether we should be at war with Venezuela are just on a presidential say-so. I mean, it was interesting, you asked my colleague, Senator Schmitt, should Congress affirm this action, and he chose not to answer your question. Because I think he knows what the law is. He referred to the administration’s 40-page legal rationale. That’s a legal rationale concerning strikes in international waters that specifically says it does not apply to provide a legal rationale for a strike against a sovereign nation like Venezuela. Maduro was a bad guy, but the U.S. shouldn’t be at war in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Nigeria or anywhere else if Congress doesn’t have the guts to debate it and vote on it so that service members who are risking their lives — and there were two injuries here — know that they’re doing that mission with the support of the nation’s political leadership determining that the mission is in the national interest.”
Sen. Kaine: “Dropping bombs, authorizing covert operations, sending in the military, deposing the government, standing at a press conference and saying we’re now going to run Venezuela. And when asked who does that mean, we’re going to run Venezuela, the president pointed over his shoulder to the Secretary of Defense and the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of State. To say this isn’t a military action that calls for a congressional response — and many of my colleagues want to avoid voting if at all possible — but to say this isn’t a military action that requires congressional authorization, I think, is to put your head in the sand. And, frankly, it follows up — well, there sure is. The United States has invaded many countries in Latin America for decades. And the doctrine that President Trump is now using, the Monroe Doctrine, was a doctrine that said the U.S. had the free rein to interfere militarily in the political affairs of nations in the Americas. And what did that get us, Jacqui? It got us hostility in a region where we should be more connected with our neighbors. And it led many, many times to gross abuses of populations by dictators that the U.S. helped install.”
- Sen. Kaine: “There have been sanctions placed against Venezuela. And I’ll admit the sanctions have not been as effective as they might have been. And you know why? Because many other nations wouldn’t join us in the sanctions, even though they joined us in sanctions against other nations. And why wouldn’t they? They didn’t like President Trump in his first term threatening military action against Venezuela. And that caused them to back off support for sanctions. So sanctions and going into international forums and trade restrictions and embargoes and seizing vessels that are pursuant to sanction with a court order, these are things that could work. It’s a lot better if you have your allies with us. What we’ve done now is push our allies…If you think it’s right for a president just on his own say-so willy-nilly to wage war against anybody, I guess that’s an opinion. But why haven’t Republicans brought forth a military authorization? Why are they ducking votes on whether this is a wise strategy? I’d vote against it.”
