Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) criticized President Donald Trump’s Venezuela strategy on CBS’s Face the Nation, accusing him of draining U.S. military resources and compromising American strength in other global hot spots.
Shaheen, the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, claimed that the administration has failed to provide a clear endgame in Venezuela, where recent U.S. strikes have targeted fast-moving watercraft. She said the administration is withholding key legal justifications from the public and escalating operations that could risk U.S. military personnel.
“They are escalating in a way… that puts at risk our men and women in the military,” Shaheen said. “We have so much firepower now in the Caribbean that Gerald R. Ford has been taken from the Red Sea, so that now we don’t have any firepower, really, in the Middle East.”
Shaheen warned that this reallocation leaves American forces vulnerable in regions where threats are increasing, including the Indo-Pacific and Europe. She argued that Trump’s focus on removing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is a strategic misstep that undercuts U.S. military readiness elsewhere.
“He is not a threat to the United States of America,” Shaheen said of Maduro, despite acknowledging his connections to drug trafficking. “And what the president is doing is raising real questions.”
Trump has not publicly disclosed a definitive plan for Venezuela but has previously indicated that removing Maduro is among the objectives. The administration recently briefed lawmakers on classified operations but has withheld public disclosure of the legal framework behind its strikes.
Shaheen’s comments come amid broader debate over the U.S. military’s global posture. Critics argue that the president’s decisions in Venezuela are stretching resources thin while adversaries like Iran, China, and Russia remain active in their respective spheres.
