Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the Trump administration's strike on Venezuela and capture of its dictatorial president Nicolas Maduro Jan. 3, 2026. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Trump invited former then-Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó to Washington, D.C., to attend his State of the Union address, identifying him as the "legitimate" leader of Venezuela as Maduro clung to power. Guaidó declared himself interim president after Venezuela’s opposition-led National Assembly said Maduro’s 2018 re-election was illegitimate.
"The United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro," Trump said in his speech before pointing to Guaidó's presence at the joint session of Congress. "Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people. But Maduro’s grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken."
Schumer said in his Senate speech the next day that Guaidó's presence at the State of the Union was proof Trump's foreign policies were not effective, or the opposition leader would have been in the president’s palace and not D.C.
Trump confirmed a successful U.S. military operation in Venezuela Saturday morning that led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, who were swiftly transported to the U.S. to face criminal trial in New York. The Venezuelan dictator was charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)
"The American people are worried that this is creating an endless war," he added. "The very thing that Donald Trump campaigned against over and over and over again was no more endless wars. And right now, we're headed right into one, with no barriers, with no discussion."
Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer's office and the White House regarding Schumer's 2020 remarks but did not immediately replies.
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy also criticized the Trump administration in 2019 for not intervening in Venezuela as Guaidó declared himself interim president and protests broke out on the streets of the nation.
"If Trump cared about consistency, he would make the realist case for intervention in Venezuela (getting rid of Maduro is good for the United States) rather than trying to pretend his Administration all of the sudden cares about toppling anti-democratic regimes," Murphy wrote on X at the time. "Finally, don't get me wrong - I support a U.S. foreign policy that cares deeply about democracy. I think we are better off pressing for political reform everywhere we do business or have interests, not just the place where the guy who controls the oil doesn't like us."
Murphy said Sunday during an appearance on CNN that "there are evil, brutal dictators all over the world. That does not give the American president the right to invade those countries, in large part because we have seen how this script plays out."
NAVY SECRETARY PRAISES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION'S MADURO CAPTURE AS 'MASTERCLASS IN PRECISION'
Trump and his administration have celebrated the capture as a success, noting that no U.S. military personnel or equipment was lost during the operation while also defending criticism from Democrats. Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Sunday morning news shows where he was grilled about the operation, including why Congress had not been notified prior to its launch.
"This was not an action that required congressional approval," Rubio told NBC's "Meet the Press." "In fact, it couldn’t require congressional approval because this was not an invasion. This is not an extended military operation. This is a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action. It was a very delicate operation, too. It was one that required all these conditions to be in place at the right time, in the right place."
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Rubio added that officials could not risk congressional leaks, as such information could have "endangered the mission and gotten people killed, or killed off the mission in the optionality."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumer-blasted-trump-failing-oust-maduro-now-warns-arrest-could-lead-endless-war