House GOP critics break with Trump over Venezuela operation that captured Maduro

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the first to criticize the Trump administration's operation in Venezuela, again breaking from the majority of his party and butting heads with the commander in chief.

Massie, a longtime critic of U.S. foreign intervention, appeared to question the legality of the federal government's Venezuela strikes.

"If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn't be tweeting that they've arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law," Massie posted to X Saturday morning.

It's not immediately clear what Maduro's wife, Celia Flores, has been charged with.

In a follow-up posted on the charges, Massie said, "25-page indictment but no mention of fentanyl or stolen oil. Search it for yourself."

Trump said on Fox News that Maduro and Flores were being flown to the USS Iwo Jima, which will bring them to the U.S., where they will face criminal proceedings led by the Southern District of New York.

"If U.S. military action and regime change in Venezuela was really about saving American lives from deadly drugs, then why hasn't the Trump admin taken action against Mexican cartels? And if prosecuting narco terrorists is a high priority, then why did President Trump pardon the former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted and sentenced for 45 years for trafficking hundreds of tons of cocaine into America?" part of Greene's statement read.

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., praised the operation but expressed concerns about what precedent is being set.

Bacon is also retiring from Congress, but, unlike Greene, he is serving out his full term.

The vast majority of Republican lawmakers unequivocally backed the operation as expected. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., both said they expected congressional briefings from the Trump administration in the coming days when lawmakers return from a two-week recess.