Sen. Tim Kaine believes more of his GOP colleagues will defect and help him attempt to block President Trump from starting a war with Venezuela if the situation continues to escalate.
Kaine (D-Va.), who unsuccessfully attempted to advance a War Powers Act resolution twice to stop military action in Venezuela, predicted that he would win more support if Trump strikes the Latin American country.
“I do believe the numbers will change,” Kaine told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. “I, along with others, filed a resolution, no war in Venezuela or against Venezuela without congressional approval. It failed.”
“But that was before all of these assets have amassed around Venezuela, and before President Trump said that the airspace needs to be closed.”
Kaine pledged to roll out a War Powers Act alongside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), “immediately should there be military action.”
The 1973 War Powers Act imposes limits on a president’s ability to use military force abroad without congressional consent, including the ability to adopt concurrent resolutions with the House to stop certain types of actions opposed by Congress.
The Virginia Democrat speculated that he might get more support for the resolution when it’s refiled due to recent reporting about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s alleged conduct during a recent airstrike operation.
Most recently, Kaine’s measure failed 49 to 51, with Paul and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) being the two GOP defections. Kaine is also trying to block Trump’s strikes against alleged drug boats as part of the effort to prevent a broader conflict with Venezuela.
Over recent months, the Trump administration has ramped up pressure on Venezuela, launching strikes against alleged drug boats, deploying military assets in the Caribbean, and putting a $50 million bounty on the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
There are 70 aircraft, nine carrier air wings and 11 ships in the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group deployed to the Caribbean as part of Operation Southern Spear, an effort to crack down on drug trafficking in the western hemisphere.
“We think the escalating pace and some of the recent revelations, so, for example, the recent revelation about the kill everyone order apparently dictated by Secretary Hegseth,” Kaine stressed. “We do believe that we will get more support for these motions when they are refiled.”
That’s a reference to a damning Washington Post report that a Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) ordered a second strike against an alleged drug boat on Sept. 2 after the first one resulted in two people clinging to the wreckage.
Hegseth gave verbal instructions to “kill everybody,” per the outlet.
The Secretary of War has publicly pushed back against that report.
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” Hegseth wrote on X last week.
“Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” he added. “[Former President Joe] Biden coddled terrorists; we kill them. Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law.”
The Washington Post report has prompted critics such as Kaine and others to raise war crime concerns.
“If that reporting is true, it’s a clear violation of the DOD’s [Department of Defense’s] own laws of war, as well as international laws about the way you treat people who are in that circumstance, Kaine said. “And so this rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true.”
Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have opened up reviews of the Trump administration’s actions regarding Venezuela.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) also implied that the actions described in the report would be a war crime.
“I’m really troubled about this,” Kelly told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “There is no organization more professional than Navy SEALs. And they should be revered. And that’s why I say I hope what I have heard about this strike is not accurate.”
