Virginia lawmakers react to Maduro’s capture

RICHMOND, VA. (WRIC) -- Virginia Republicans are coming to President Donald Trump’s defense, saying he did have the authority to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro using military forces. 

“I wonder if those same people, what they were saying when Obama sent drones into Yemen and killed an American citizen. I wonder if they were speaking up about that,” Republican Congressman John McGuire (VA-05) told 8News. 

However, Democratic Senator Mark Warner (D-Virginia) said Trump should have consulted Congress before the operation. 

“His [Maduro’s] bad actions don’t justify this kind of action without taking it to the American public, without taking it to the Congress,” Warner said.

Warner said that while he agrees that Maduro shouldn’t be in power, he disagrees with how President Trump removed Maduro and the precedent it could set. 

“If any country can go in and extract a leader of another nation simply based upon the presumption that they broke our law, what would then stop Vladimir Putin from saying, well, Zelensky broke Russian law, so he can go take him out,” Warner said.

However, Republican Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (VA-02) said President Trump did the right thing by removing a man the United States accuses of participating in a large-scale drug trafficking operation. 

“It sends a message that in America, we care about protecting not only our homeland, but we care about world peace and putting our adversaries on notice, and I think that’s exactly what this administration has done,” Kiggans told 8News. 

Several other Virginia lawmakers have also released statements on Maduro’s capture. They can be found here.