Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said a classified Senate briefing revealed the Trump administration's recent military strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific have neither legal authorization nor a credible national security rationale.
Murphy Slams US Caribbean Strikes
In a post on Wednesday on X, the Connecticut Democrat said he had just exited a briefing led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on U.S. military operations tied to drug trafficking routes.
"Bottom line: there is no legal or national security justification for what they're doing. Not even close," Murphy wrote while sharing video of his remarks.
Murphy said officials acknowledged that Venezuela is not a major source of fentanyl entering the United States.
"There's no fentanyl coming to the United States from Venezuela," he said,
He added that while Venezuela exports cocaine, "almost all of the cocaine that is coming out of Venezuela into the Caribbean isn't going to the United States. It's going to Europe."
He argued the military campaign amounts to a waste of public money.
"We are spending billions of your taxpayer dollars to wage a war in the Caribbean" that does not protect Americans, Murphy said.
Murphy Challenges Legal Basis For Trump Military Action
Murphy also rejected the administration's claim that labeling drug cartels as terrorist organizations provides authority for military strikes.
"The president does have the ability to designate certain groups as terrorist organizations, but that does not give him the ability or the authorization to carry out military strikes," Murphy said.
He added, "Only Congress, only the American public, can authorize war."
US Military Kills Four In Eastern Pacific Strike
The U.S. military carried out a lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing four people, Hegseth said.
He posted on X that Joint Task Force Southern Spear had targeted a vessel operated by a designated terrorist organization in international waters, which intelligence confirmed was on a known narco-trafficking route.
No U.S. military personnel were harmed.
The strike came a day after Trump announced a blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, accusing Venezuela of funding drug trafficking and other crimes and pledging to escalate the U.S. military presence.
Earlier in the week, the Pentagon said it had struck three additional boats accused of drug trafficking in the Pacific, killing eight people, reported The Guardian.
Since September 2, more than 20 strikes have killed at least 99 people, mostly off Venezuela's coast.
Democrats Slam Trump's Caribbean Strikes
Murphy said the strikes target cocaine shipments to Europe, not fentanyl to the U.S., calling it "the war on European cocaine."
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) accused Republicans of blocking the release of footage showing a strike that killed shipwrecked survivors, alleging the administration is edging toward war with Venezuela.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned that Trump lacks the authority for the strikes without Congressional Approval and promised a bipartisan resolution to block unauthorized military action.
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