Top administration officials sought during a briefing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to ease bipartisan concern about an expanding military campaign against suspected drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Pacific, but Democrats said they still had no clear answers about the legal basis, scope or objective of the mission.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered the briefing on the eve of a Senate vote on Thursday on a measure that would curtail the president’s ability to take direct military action against Venezuela. It came as Democrats and Republicans have expressed mounting concern about the escalating military offensive, carried out without congressional authorization or consultation.
Pressed by lawmakers, the White House recently shared a classified memo with Congress that outlined the legal argument defending the operations. But Democrats said the justification was thin and set a dangerous precedent.
“There’s nothing that was said that changed my mind that they are making illegal strikes,” Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview after the closed-door meeting.
Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said the meeting did not include the “granularity” typical of Defense Department debriefs he has attended for similar operations, and lamented that lawmakers were not given a “strike-by-strike” breakdown.
And though Mr. Rubio and Mr. Hegseth tried to reassure lawmakers that the strikes were not a prelude to more direct attacks aimed at regime change in Venezuela, Democrats said the officials failed to provide answers on the policy strategy behind the strikes.
“Members of Congress are simply left in the dark as to exactly what it is you’re trying to do,” said Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.
Mr. Trump has not made a decision on whether to take action on land, but some senior advisers are pushing for the United States to oust Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
Democrats said the briefing provided no clarity on the administration’s possible next steps in Venezuela. “Is there something imminent?” was a question left unanswered, said Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat and member of the Foreign Relations Committee, after the briefing.
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said the administration’s legal justification was tenuous.
“Even if at some point there was authority, how long does this last?” Mr. Warner said, noting that the strikes have been going on for months. He added: “There is no legal basis in any legal opinion that we have been discussing that addresses Venezuela in any shape.”
Mr. Coons said he was “concerned about the lack of clear strategy and policy.” He and other Democrats said the briefing, which included T. Elliot Gaiser, a top member of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, did not clarify the Trump administration’s strategy in the region.
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said he planned to request a follow-up briefing that would include all members of the Senate.
“We need a lot more answers,” he said.
The Trump administration has told lawmakers that the boats blown up at sea were ferrying cocaine. Mr. Trump has claimed without showing evidence that the strikes have eliminated stores of both cocaine and fentanyl, a more lethal drug, aboard the vessels, and in doing so saved thousands of American lives.
In an interview after the briefing, Mr. Himes expressed skepticism about the fentanyl claims. “It is curious that since the argument is built around the notion that great damage is being done to the United States,” he said, “that the response is aimed at a pipeline of less lethal narcotics, and this obviously has very little to do with fentanyl, which is truly the most lethal threat that we face.”
Top Republicans exiting the briefing on Wednesday said they were confident that the Trump administration carried out the strikes at sea within the bounds of the law.
“They’re doing good work,” said Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “They’re doing it lawfully, and I encourage them to keep it up.”
Mr. Trump has issued contradictory public messages about his military intentions against Venezuela and the goals and justification for any future military action. He has said in recent weeks that the attacks at sea — including another strike on Tuesday — that have killed at least 67 people would be expanded to land attacks.
That has not happened yet, but the Pentagon recently deployed the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Caribbean to support the campaign. The move will bring roughly 5,000 more American troops along with the largest and most advanced warship in the world to the region.
“All these contradictory statements are thrown out there,” Mr. Smith, the top Democrat on the House defense panel, said. “There is a lack of clarity on what this mission is about. Is it regime change? Are they planning on doing strikes on sovereign territory?”
Megan Mineiro is a Times congressional reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
Robert Jimison covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on defense issues and foreign policy.
Julian E. Barnes covers the U.S. intelligence agencies and international security matters for The Times. He has written about security issues for more than two decades.
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