Raskin demands Congress approval for Trump administration’s cartel strikes
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Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized the Trump administration’s airstrikes in the Caribbean, arguing that they were akin to powers the president could only wield in wartime.
Raskin argued that Trump would need congressional approval to carry out and continue any of the attacks.
“Congress must defend our institutional privilege. We have the authority to declare war. Not Donald Trump, not JD Vance, not Pete Hegseth, not Tulsi Gabbard,” Raskin said, referring to the country’s top security officials. “No one in the administration has the right to declare war. Only Congress has the right to declare war. And we must take that back.”
GOP lawmakers CONVEY AFTER TRUMP’S VENEZUELA STRIKE as critics question legality
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., arrives to speak with reporters while introducing tariff legislation at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 8, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Shortly after Trump’s inauguration, the administration designated many drug cartels operating in the United States and internationally as terrorist organizations. In recent months, it has used Navy strikes off the coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean to eliminate what it describes as credible terrorist threats in the United States.
Management has carried out more than 20 strikes since November.
This framework has come under criticism in recent weeks as questions emerged about whether attacking boats in international waters violates international law. According to Raskin, the strikes encroached on due process issues.
HEGSETH SAID THAT THE ARMY MADE A NEW ATTACK ON THE BOAT ALLEGED TO BE A NARCO TERRORISM
The second kinetic attack targets Venezuelan cartels that threaten US security. (Trump/Real Social)
“We do not allow the army to behave like this” [a] police officer, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. And we don’t just impose imaginary collective punishments or harsh death sentences for complicity. So we have to rein in the administration and bring them back to the rule of law in the Constitution,” Raskin said.
Some lawmakers, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, pushed back on Raskin’s criticism, noting that the United States has been organizing strikes in other countries without a declaration of war.
For example, under the Obama administration, the United States has carried out thousands of attacks in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Libya without an official definition of war. However, Congress passed the law Authorization to Use Military Force In 2001, the Bush administration was authorized to “use all necessary and appropriate force” to combat the terrorists responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
It was far from a formal declaration of war.
DEM PRESSURE BUILDING TO RESPOND TO TRUMP’S CARIBBEAN SHOTS, COMMANDER’S SURPRISE
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., speaks with FBI Director Kash Patel (not pictured) at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on September 17, 2025. (Annabelle Gordon/Reuters)
Raskin did not immediately explain why similar attacks in the Middle East were not directly compared to attacks off the coast of Venezuela or why the definition of terrorist falls outside the norm of what past administrations have made. He said he believes the issue is not a difference in location.
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“[Arguing] If this were a different event occurring in a different place, at a different time, it would be legal. Well, that’s bullshit,” Raskin said.
The War Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for a response to Raskin’s criticism.
