--- title: Republicans Are Starting To Speak Out Against Trump's Boat Bombing Campaign description: As Trump inches closer to military action against Venezuela, some Republicans are calling for more transparency with Congress. canonical: https://time.com/7328672/trump-cartel-bombing-venezuela-republicans/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-10-27T17:26:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-11T00:27:55.838Z article:section: Politics og:title: Republicans Are Speaking Out Against Trump's Boat Bombing og:description: As Trump inches closer to military action against Venezuela, some Republicans are calling for more transparency. og:url: https://time.com/7328672/trump-cartel-bombing-venezuela-republicans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac231ef910190350/6998cb1dc8dcb46cd2b509ae/GettyImages-2243092177.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: US warship arrives in Trinidad and Tobago og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republicans Are Speaking Out Against Trump's Boat Bombing twitter:description: As Trump inches closer to military action against Venezuela, some Republicans are calling for more transparency. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac231ef910190350/6998cb1dc8dcb46cd2b509ae/GettyImages-2243092177.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Republicans Are Starting To Speak Out Against Trump's Boat Bombing Campaign > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Oct 27, 2025 5:26 PM UTC  The USS Gravely (DDG-107), a United States Navy vessel, arrives at the port in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025\. The US missile destroyer warship and a marine air-ground task force are set to conduct joint training with the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force (TTDF), according to the Caribbean nation's Foreign Ministry The USS Gravely (DDG-107), a United States Navy vessel, arrives at the port in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025\. The US missile destroyer warship and a marine air-ground task force are set to conduct joint training with the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force (TTDF), according to the Caribbean nation's Foreign Ministry Oscar Castillo—Bloomberg  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Oct 27, 2025 5:26 PM UTC A growing number of Republicans are publicly challenging President Donald Trump’s expanding [bombing](https://time.com/7326921/trump-venezuela-caribbean-drug-boats-maduro/) campaign against alleged drug-trafficking cartel boats in the Caribbean and Pacific. Most Republicans in [Congress](https://time.com/magazine/us/7308151/august-7th-2025-vol-206-no-5/) have shown little opposition to Trump in his second term as he stretched the limits of [executive power](https://time.com/7312340/stop-rise-of-american-autocracy/), but signs of dissent have emerged over the military campaign launched in early September, without congressional approval, that now threatens to expand into land strikes against [Venezuela](https://time.com/7317506/us-venezuela-war-powers-international-law-trump-maduro-drugs-cartel-boat-strike/). **Read More:** [_Trump’s Domestic Pressures for a Potential War in Venezuela_](https://time.com/7328489/trumps-potential-war-venezuela/) Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the Armed Services Committee, called for greater scrutiny of the strikes in an interview with the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/us/politics/republicans-trump-drug-war.html) on Wednesday. “We have oversight responsibilities, and we expect to get our questions answered,” he said. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, also urged talks on authorizing the use of force. “I think we’ve got to be very careful when you’re talking about ordering a kinetic strike,” he told the _Times._ Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, also told the _Times_ there are legitimate questions about the legality of Trump’s strikes without congressional authority. Collins said she would like to see the Senate “pass a resolution that either authorizes his force or prevents its use,” although the comments come [after Senate Republicans struck down a measure](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/83/text) that would have blocked Trump from continuing his assault on unmarked boats. **Read more:** [_Trump’s Caribbean Bombing Campaign Brings War on Terror to the Americas_](https://time.com/7326921/trump-venezuela-caribbean-drug-boats-maduro/) Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford told C-SPAN that the White House “needs to give insight” to Congress about the military strikes “If this was happening with this level of insight under the Biden administration, I’d be apoplectic,” Lankford [said Thursday](https://www.c-span.org/program/ceasefire/ceasefire-with-senators-james-lankford-and-chris-coons/667481). Senator Rand Paul, a libertarian Republican from Kentucky, has emerged as a consistent critic of the campaign. Paul has gone so far this weekend as to join international experts in [calling the strikes](https://time.com/7319697/trump-venezuela-narcoterrorism-drug-cartels/), which the Trump Administration says have killed 43 people, “extrajudicial killings.” “No one said their name, no one said what evidence, no one said whether they’re armed, and we’ve had no evidence presented,” he said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “The Constitution says that when you go to war, Congress has to vote on it,” he added, emphasizing that the “drug war” is something that has traditionally been done through domestic law enforcement. “So, at this point, I would call them extrajudicial killings. And this is akin to what China does, to what Iran does with drug dealers,” he said. Paul and Sen. Lisa Murkowski were the only two Republicans who voted with Democrats to block the bombing campaign without Congressional approval. The resolution to prohibit attacks “within or against” Venezuela without explicit authorization from Congress has been reintroduced this month—this time as a bipartisan effort. The campaign has drawn criticism from experts concerned about the expansion of executive authority and breaches of both national and international law. Paul’s comments come after the Trump Administration confirmed its 10th strike on the alleged drug-trafficking boats, and although Trump has [denied that he is seeking regime change](https://time.com/7315126/trump-maduro-venezuela-regime-change/) in Venezuela, he has increased threats against the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, with a massive naval buildup off of Venezuela’s coast. Just this weekend, the Pentagon dispatched the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald Ford, to the region, and a U.S. Navy destroyer ship arrived in Trinidad and Tobago, equipped with guided missiles, Marines, and advanced weapons systems. The moves resulted in fury from Maduro, who was re-elected last year in what independent experts have characterized as a fraudulent election, and who said that the U.S. is trying to [“invent a new eternal war” against his nation](https://time.com/7328458/venezuela-trump-uss-gerald-ford/). Most Republicans have remained loyal to Trump, however. Sen. Lindsay Graham told CBS News’ Face the Nation over the weekend that land strikes on Venezuela are a "real possibility,” and that Trump has decided that it is time for Maduro to “go.” Although Trump has previously said that he did not need congressional authorization to continue his cartel assault, he has said that his Administration would "probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we are doing" before launching land strikes. 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