Rand Paul breaks with Trump on Venezuela, calls action 'war' as Senate prepares constitutional showdown

"I think bombing a capital and removing the head of state is, by all definitions, war," Paul told a gaggle of reporters. "Does this mean we have carte blanche that the president can make the decision any time, anywhere, to invade a foreign country and remove people that we've accused of a crime?"

"There is no question about the evils that were perpetrated on the people of Venezuela," Paul said. "But this is a question about the prerogatives of power."

"The reason for this is they were concerned about the perpetual wars of Europe," Paul said of the Founding Fathers. "They didn't want so much power to reside in the hands of one person. And so they actually took that power and said the initiation of war should begin in Congress."

"Now, I think the administration wants to present this as well. 'This is just law enforcement,'" Paul said. "He's a drug dealer, and we just had to bomb the whole country because we had to protect the people arresting him."

Paul said Trump's opposition to regime change was a major reason he previously supported the president.

The war powers resolution is expected to be debated on the Senate floor Wednesday, with a vote likely Thursday.

"We're going to debate it on the floor tomorrow, and the vote will probably be on Thursday," Paul said. "And I think it's one of the most important things that we do debate in Congress - when do we initiate war, and who has the power to initiate war?"