Democratic lawmaker decries strikes on Venezuelan boats as 'illegal killings'

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) on Sunday characterized a string of U.S. strikes on Venezuelan boats in international waters as "illegal killings," saying the White House has not yet shared their legal justification for the attacks with congressional lawmakers.

"They are illegal killings because the notion that the United States — and this is what the administration says is their justification — is involved in an armed conflict with any drug dealers, any Venezuelan drug dealers, is ludicrous," Himes told host Margaret Brennan in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation." "It wouldn't stand up in a single court of law."

The U.S. has carried out at least four strikes on Venezuelan boats in the past month, which the Trump administration has characterized as a campaign to target "narcoterrorists" that they say are responsible for smuggling drugs into the country. Lawmakers and former security officials have continued to sound alarm at the strikes, saying it blurs the line between crime and war.

Himes — the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee — said aside from a White House memo informing lawmakers about the strikes, members of Congress had not been briefed on a list of outstanding questions — like who was aboard the boats, how they were identified as a threat and what the extent of U.S. intelligence was before carrying out the strikes.

Trump sent Congress a formal notification in compliance with the War Powers Resolution of 1973 two days after the first strike in September, saying the boat "was assessed to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization."

"Congress is being told nothing on this," he said. "And that's OK, apparently, with the Republican majorities in the House and the Senate. It's not OK with me."

Himes continued, calling the White House's legal justifications "laughable," and saying the administration designating an entity as a terrorist does not automatically give it the authority to carry out a lethal strike.

"My Republican friends are saying, 'But these are terrible people doing terrible things,'" he said. "OK, I don't disagree with you on that, but are we now in the business of killing people who are doing bad things without authority?"

Himes signed onto a letter with other Democratic House leaders in September decrying the first strike as a "dangerous expansion and abuse of presidential authority."

"The lack of transparency and information sharing with Congress, which has the constitutional responsibility to declare war and authorize or limit the use of force, poses an even greater threat to our democratic system of government," they wrote.