Trump’s Own Chief of Staff Said President Needed Congress to Approve Land Strikes On Venezuela

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump brings Susie Wiles to the podium at an election night watch party Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

In the hours after President Donald Trump’s decision to launch a strike on Venezuela, observers are calling out a recently-published quote from White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — one which seems to run counter to the administration’s actions.

Wiles, in a piece published Dec. 16 by Vanity Fair, was questioned by writer Chris Whipple about the strikes on suspected Venezuelan narco-boats. Wiles defended those strikes.

“I’m saying that this is a war on drugs,” Wiles told Whipple. “[It’s] unlike another one that we’ve seen. But that’s what this is.”

“Obviously it’s a war declared only by the president and without any congressional approval,” Whipple replied.

“Don’t need it yet,” Wiles responded.

But “yet” was the operative word in that sentence — as the chief of staff went on to make clear that if Trump sought to launch a land strike on Venezuela, he would have to first get a green light from Congress.

“If he were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then [we’d need] Congress,” Wiles told Whipple. “But Marco [Rubio] and JD [Vance], to some extent, are up on the Hill every day, briefing.”

But that is not how Saturday’s attack played out. The president did not seek congressional authorization before launching the strike which led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. And observers are pointing out the contrast between comment from Wiles and the administration’s actions.

In a Fox News interview Saturday morning on Fox & Friends Weekend, the president scoffed at criticism from Democrats in Congress.

“They should say ‘great job,'” Trump said of Democrats. “They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’ You know, the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years.”

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