Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner on Wednesday expressed confidence in the intelligence used by the Pentagon to strike alleged drug traffickers in the Pacific Ocean, but he urged the Trump administration to divulge more information to a skeptical public as Democrats question the legal justification for continued attacks.
After a briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Warner said, “I think our intelligence assets are quite good,” explaining that he believes the administration does have “visibility” into the transport of illegal drugs. But the Virginia senator contended that making more information available about the strikes would help instill confidence in the US’s actions in the region.
“The notion on the kinetic strikes, without actually interdicting and demonstrating to the American public that these are carrying drugs and they’re full of bad guys, I think, is a huge mistake and undermines the confidence in the administration’s actions,” he said.
Warner, who was deeply critical when the administration briefed a group of only GOP senators last week, said it’s “good” that all senators are now able to view the administration’s detailed legal justification for the strikes in a classified setting.
However, he added that he thinks all of his colleagues should also be able to hear from administration officials, especially as Congress continues to debate limiting the president’s war powers in the region.
Rep. Jim Himes, the House Intelligence committee ranking member, echoed Warner’s confidence in the work of the US intelligence community, telling reporters, “I don’t worry there’s not some connection of these boats to trafficking.” But he added, “what I’m not sure about is whether we have the same architecture to make sure innocents aren’t killed, etc, that we do when we traditionally do counter-terrorism strikes.”
Rubio and Hegseth, as well as an official from the White House’s Office of Legal Counsel, briefed a group the administration described as the “Gang of 12” — leadership from both chambers, as well as the top Republicans and Democrats on key committees.
House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks told CNN he heard “nothing” during the closed-door briefing to convince him of the legality of the strikes.
And Meeks said they did not share evidence that ties the vessels or their passengers to the drug trade. Officials, including Rubio, have repeatedly claimed to have such evidence to support the deadly strikes.
The New York Democrat said the administration referred to the Office of Legal Counsel memo that says they do not need congressional approval for the military action. The memo was shared with lawmakers, he said.
However, Meeks said he was still seeking an answer as to why the administration issued a War Powers notification after the first strike if they don’t believe they legally need to.
“It seems to me that what they are doing is they’re making mental gymnastics to figure out and to justify circumventing Congress’ role on matters of war and peace,” he told CNN. “With some of their legal, what they say is legal authorization, I don’t buy it all.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson argued that “exquisite intelligence” backs the legal justification for the strikes, which he said is based on a “military paradigm,” rather than traditional law enforcement protocol.
“This is a necessary, appropriate and legal response to effectively, the cartels having declared war on us,” he said, explaining, “if you look statistically, cocaine has been the cause of death for more Americans in the last two years than all of the casualties that we suffered in the Vietnam War combined.”
As for the question of whether the administration was aware of the identities of every person on board the vessels, Johnson said he didn’t know the exact answer, while also saying there was “high reliability” behind the belief that those on board were affiliated with cartels and not just “haphazardly on a boat.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he’s pressing for an all- senators briefing on the issue, telling reporters, “What we heard isn’t enough. We need a lot more answers” after the closed meeting Wednesday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also said he wants to hear “more information,” partially blaming Johnson’s decision to keep the House out of session during the shutdown for the lack of a full congressional briefing.
“House Republicans have literally been on a taxpayer funded vacation for the last six weeks. This is extraordinary. Mike Johnson has castrated his own majority,” Jeffries said.
Johnson said he didn’t sense a “negative vibe” in the room, despite the frustration from Democrats, telling reporters, “They wanted the briefing earlier, but I don’t think anybody who was in there can complain about a lack of thorough information.”
Warner said the legal opinion shared with lawmakers does not address the separate consideration of any potential military action inside of Venezuela.
Asked by CNN if he was comfortable with the potential of the US taking action to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Warner responded, “I’ve said repeatedly that Maduro, not just in terms of American recognition, but roughly 50 nations around the world, is not even recognized as the legal leader of Venezuela at this point.”
He said the US “missed a huge opportunity” to rally the region against Maduro when he seized power last year after his competitor who won more votes in the presidential election had to flee the country.
CNN’s Ted Barrett, Ellis Kim and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
