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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said on Sunday that the U.S. is engaged in an “ongoing war” with Venezuela following what he described as recent U.S. actions involving the country.
During an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Paul said the U.S. continues to be in conflict with Venezuela over its oil.
“That is an act of war, it’s an ongoing war, to continue to take their oil, ongoing war, to distribute it,” Paul said.
“I still hope it works out for the best, but we are still involved in an active war with Venezuela,” he continued.
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The senator added that “we still have hundreds of ships with a 100% blockade of the coast.”
This comes after the U.S. operation to attack Venezuela and arrest its president, Nicolás Maduro, and the Trump administration’s subsequent seizing of an oil tanker from the country.
Venezuela is one of the biggest producers of oil, and its oil industry has become a focus of the Trump administration. Officials said oil sales to the U.S. will start immediately with an initial shipment of about 30 million to 50 million barrels and that the shipments will continue indefinitely.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump previously wrote on Truth Social.
Trump has also said that the U.S. would continue “running” Venezuela for much longer than a few months. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have said it will take time for Venezuela, now led by interim acting President Delcy Rodriguez, to reach a place where it can hold elections.
More than half of U.S. voters oppose the Trump administration running Venezuela, according to a poll from Quinnipiac University.
Paul is part of a bipartisan group of lawmakers who want to limit Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks against Venezuela after the U.S. military’s recent move to strike the country and capture Maduro, which the Kentucky Republican has said amounts to war.
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The group attempted to pass a War Powers resolution last week to block the president from additional intervention without congressional approval, but the effort failed in the Senate.
“The only problem about a war powers vote now is that, since it hasn’t happened, there are a lot of Republicans who say, ‘Oh, that’s prospective. I’m not going to tie his hands prospectively,'” Paul said on Sunday.
“The problem is, if you wait until after an invasion, whereas the administration argues, we don’t know it’s a war until we count the casualties. That’s sort of a crazy definition of war, because our job is to initiate or declare war,” he added.