US Strikes Drug Boat off Venezuela, Killing 6

Trump told reporters later on Tuesday in the Oval Office that Venezuela is "a big purveyor of drugs," and accused Venezuela of sending their "criminals" into the U.S.

The task force seeks to "crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe," Hegseth wrote on X Friday. "The message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold."

Even so, members of Congress have called into question whether the strikes have been legal. For example, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., filed a war powers resolution in September to bar U.S. forces from engaging in "hostilities" against certain non-state organizations.

"There has been no authorization to use force by Congress in this way," Schiff told reporters Wednesday. "I feel it is plainly unconstitutional. The fact that the administration claims to have a list and has put organizations on a list does not somehow empower the administration to usurp Congress's power of declaring war or refusing to declare war or refusing to authorize the use of force."

"We have to put the traffickers and cartels on notice. … If you try to poison our people, we will blow you out of existence, because that's the only language they really understand," Trump told military leaders in Quantico, Virginia, Sept. 30. "That's why you don't see any more boats in the ocean. You don't see any boats around Venezuela. There's nothing."

Meanwhile, Venezuela requested an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council due to the strikes. Venezuela asked for the emergency session in a letter sent Thursday to Russia's ambassador to the U.N. and council president, Vassily Nebenzia.

"The ulterior motive remains the same as that which has characterized the United States of America’s actions toward Venezuela for more than 26 years: to advance its ‘regime change’ policies in order to seize control of the vast natural resources found in Venezuelan territory," Samuel Moncada, Venezuela's ambassador to the U.N., wrote in the letter.