Democrats Claim Maduro Capture Is A 'Distraction'
Democrats immediately denounced President Trump's operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, calling it an illegal war despite broad precedent supporting the commander-in-chief's authority to conduct such missions without congressional approval.
Even former Vice President Kamala Harris has chimed in.
"Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable," Harris claimed in a post on X. “That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We’ve seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”
Other Democrats claimed that the operation to capture Maduro was a “distraction.”
During an appearance on MSNOW on Saturday, Rep. Marilyn Strickland (D-Wash.) suggested the timing of Maduro's capture served primarily as a distraction from issues Democrats plan to spotlight when Congress reconvenes, namely the upcoming anniversary of the Capitol riot on January 6, and the Epstein files.
"I think it was mentioned by one of your earlier speakers that Donald Trump is transactional, what he wants is access to those oil reserves," Strickland said.
"At the same time, this is also a big distraction. Look at the timing of this. We go back in session on Tuesday. We are going to talk about the Affordable Care Act premiums. We're going to talk about January 6, the Epstein files, the economy, all those things that are so important to the American people, and, what a coincidence, this happens."
She also drew a comparison between Maduro and Trump regarding election integrity.
"It also is not a surprise of the timing. We're going back to Congress next week... and we'll be talking about January 6, which is kind of ironic here, because...Maduro, he actually did steal two elections. And Donald Trump tried to do that on January 6, but he failed," Strickland said.
Strickland wasn’t the only one pushing the “distraction” angle.
"It's not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn't have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It's about oil and regime change,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) claimed.
And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn't. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs," she wrote.
However, these accusations ignored a glaring contradiction.
The Trump administration carried out an operation targeting a leader the Biden-Harris administration actively sought to apprehend.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on January 10, 2025, mere days before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris left office, that the State Department would increase the reward to $25 million for Maduro.
“In solidarity with the Venezuelan people, the U.S. Government and our partners around the world are taking action today,” Blinken announced in a statement on January 10, 2025.
“The Department of State is increasing the reward offers to up to $25 million each for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s Minister of Interior Diosdado Cabello. The Department of State is also adding a new reward offer of up to $15 million for Maduro’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López. These three reward offers stem from criminal narcotrafficking indictments announced in March 2020.”
Biden's outgoing administration framed the increased reward as part of coordinated international pressure on the illegitimate Maduro regime.
It appears that the only distraction going on here is from the Democrats, who don’t want the public to realize that Trump succeeded where Biden-Harris failed.