Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “not being straight with the American people” about President Donald Trump’s attack on Venezuela, and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
Appearing Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Murphy was asked about a briefing that Hegseth and Rubio held last month with senators about Venezuela.
“I can certainly tell you that the message that they sent was that this wasn’t about regime change. When they came to Congress — and they literally lied to our face — they said, ‘This is just a counternarcotics operation. This is about trying to interrupt the drug flow to the United States,’” Murphy said. “Right around that same time, the White House Chief of Staff [Susie Wiles] said publicly if we ever had boots on the ground in Venezuela, of course, we would have to come to Congress.”
Murphy then declared that the Trump administration was simply untrustworthy.
“They aren’t being straight with the American people,” Murphy said. “There isn’t even a briefing scheduled for Congress next week to explain A) what happened, and B) what the plan is moving forward. But yes, I think everybody in that briefing heard the administration say, ‘This is just a targeted counternarcotics operation. This has nothing to do with regime change.’”
Although Murphy acknowledged that there were “evil, brutal dictators all over the world,” he said that doesn’t give the American president the right to invade those countries.
“Over and over again, we have seen these warmongering neocons, many of which have influence in this White House, cheerlead us into war under the guise of removing a very bad man,” Murphy said. “That ends up getting a lot of Americans killed.”
Watch a clip from Murphy’s “State of the Union” appearance below: