US President Donald Trump would plan to brief Congress in the coming days on possible ground operations against drug trafficking in Venezuela and Colombiain an expansion of sea attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific, Senator Lindsey Graham announced this Sunday.
“President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress, upon his return from Asia, about possible future military operations against Venezuela and Colombia“Graham said in an interview on CBS’ ‘Face The Nation.’
With a resounding yes, the Republican senator answered after being questioned about whether the White House plans ground attacks after more than a month of operations against drug trafficking in the Caribbean, near the Venezuelan coast, and more recently in the Pacific, near Colombia.
“There will be a briefing in Congress on the possible expansion of the sea to land. I support that idea,” added the Republican senator, very close to the US president.
Graham defended Washington’s decision to attack boats allegedly loaded with drugs, causing the death of most of their crew, and maintained that President Trump has all the authority to order the sinking of the ships as part of his war against drug trafficking.
He has all the authority in the world. This is not murder. This is protecting the United States from poisoning by narcoterrorists from Venezuela and Colombia“said the senator from South Carolina.
The United States Army has reported the sinking of at least 10 boats with some 43 people on board since the Trump Administration began its attacks in early September.
The White House has reiterated that these actions protect Americans from the arrival of drugs into the country.
However, critics have argued that the attacks are illegal because there is no way to prove that these boats were transporting drugs and those traveling on them have not been given the right to a judicial process.
In an interview with NBC’s ‘Meet The Press’, Arizona Senator Rubén Gallego described the military attacks on the vessels as “authorized murder,” calling the deaths that occurred in the attack “unnecessary.”
Graham refuted the Democratic senator’s criticism and responded to Gallego by assuring that the Army “is not murdering anyone.”
“They are making the United States safer by going after a narco-terrorist. They are following legal orders,” he said.
