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Sen. Lindsey Graham warned that the U.S. mission in Venezuela must end with Nicolás Maduro removed from power, arguing that leaving the embattled leader in place after a major U.S. show of force would be a “fatal mistake to our standing in the world.”
“If after all this, we still leave this guy in power… that’s the worst possible signal you can send to Russia, China, Iran,” Graham, R-S.C., told reporters after a classified all-senator briefing with War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump administration officials did not say whether a series of narco-strikes in the Caribbean could escalate into direct strikes against Venezuelan territory or a broader campaign to oust Maduro. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital the briefing was “absent of specificity and detail” and left “more questions than answers.”
“I want to reassert, again, you cannot allow this man to be standing after this display of force, and I did not get a very good answer as to what happens,” Graham said. “What I want is some clarity going forward. Is that in fact the goal?… If it’s not the goal, it is a huge mistake.”
MADURO SINGS, DANCES AND THREATENS TO ‘SMASH THE TEETH’ OF THE ‘NORTH AMERICAN EMPIRE’
“If after all this, we still leave this guy in power… that’s the worst possible signal you can send to Russia, China, Iran,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told reporters. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he heard from briefers that there is a “very good process of determining if something’s a target or not” before striking narco-trafficking boats, but the administration did not clarify its broader strategy toward the Maduro regime.
“Right now the focus has been on the boats,” Bacon said. “I don’t know what we’re doing yet with Venezuela writ large.”
Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the classified session also failed to address core questions.
“I actually think that was, for me,…
