West Virginia’s GOP leadership praise military action against Venezuela
By Autumn Shelton, RealWV
PALM BEACH, FL. – On Jan. 3, President Donald Trump held a press conference where he announced that United States armed forces conducted a military operation in Caracas, Venezuela, capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife before flying them to New York to face charges of federal drug trafficking and narco-terrorism.
The U.S. military campaign took place overnight, according to Trump, where U.S. forces were met with Venezuelan forces in a “ready” position.
“But they were completely overwhelmed and very quickly incapacitated,” Trump said. “If you would have seen what I saw last night you would have been very impressed . . . not a single American service member was killed and not a single piece of American equipment was lost.”
Trump added that as a result of the capture of Maduro, the American government would be running the country until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” of leadership may take place.
“We don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years,” Trump said.
Also, Trump said that the “oil business in Venezuela has been a bust,” and that oil was not being pumped “in comparison to what they could have been pumping.”
“We are going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go and spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure – the oil infrastructure – and start making money for the country, and we are ready to stage a second and much larger attack if we need to do so. So, we were prepared to do a second wave if we needed to do so.”
Following Trump’s press conference, Senator Jim Justice (R-WV) said that he applauds the President for his leadership.
“Maduro has not only illegitimately ruled over Venezuela and its people, but has enabled cartels to harm Americans through state-sponsored drug trafficking into our country – including West Virginia,” Justice wrote on social media. “I applaud the brave men and women of our armed forces who carried out this decisive action, and applaud President Donald J. Trump for his fearless leadership – America will not back down.”
Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) added that she also supports the President.
“For far too long, Nicolás Maduro has used his illegitimate presidency to push poisonous drugs into American communities, harming our people—including in my state of West Virginia, where so many families have experienced immense pain and suffering,” Capito wrote on social media. “I applaud the brave military, law enforcement, and intelligence community personnel who made this operation happen.I thank President Donald J. Trump for finally taking action to bring this narcoterrorist thug to justice for his crimes, and I look forward to receiving a full briefing in the coming days.”
However, despite Republican support, the West Virginia Democratic Party issued a statement calling the President’s influence in the matter “unacceptable”:
“When President Trump ran for office he promised peace, an end to foreign entanglements, and an America First foreign policy. Instead, he has delivered the very thing he claimed to oppose: another open-ended commitment to intervene in another nation’s affairs, with American taxpayers footing the bill and American lives potentially on the line.
“Today, the president finally said the quiet part out loud. This is not about stemming the flow of drugs into the United States. If it were, his focus would be on Colombia, China, or even Mexico—countries that play a vastly greater role in the drug trade affecting our communities. This is about regime change. It is about enriching oil corporations and billionaires while ordinary Americans pay the price.
“This represents a profound betrayal of the promises Donald Trump made to the American people. He has committed the United States to an uncertain role in South America with no clear mission, no defined end, and no authorization from Congress.
On November 2, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said that land strikes in Venezuela would require the approval of Congress. She added that if Trump “were to authorize some activity on land, then it’s war, then (we’d need) Congress.” On November 6th, the Trump administration reiterated that position telling Congress the White House “doesn’t have a legal justification that would support attacks against any land targets.”
“Congress must immediately assert its constitutional authority over American military action—the very authority Trump’s own chief of staff has acknowledged is required. As the president’s influence at home and abroad continues to wane, he appears increasingly willing to endanger Americans and sidestep the Constitution in a desperate effort to cling to power and relevance. That is unacceptable, and it must be stopped.”
A Jan. 3 press release issued by the United States Department of War, led by Secretary Pete Hegseth, states:
“The capture of the Maduros represents a culmination of tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela dating as far back as 1998, with the election of President Hugo Chavez, a Venezuelan socialist who espoused anti-U.S. rhetoric and formed close ties with Cuba, Iran and Russia.
“Following the death of Chavez in 2013, Nicolás Maduro took over and became increasingly politically hostile toward the U.S. as the years progressed.
“Tensions between the two countries increased significantly beginning in September of 2025, when the Trump administration began conducting targeted boat strikes on vessels deemed to be conducting narco-terrorism by attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S.
“In November 2025, the State Department declared Venezuela’s state-embedded criminal network Cartel de los Soles — which is alleged to have been headed by Maduro — as a terror organization.
“Just prior to that designation, Hegseth said such an action would provide the War Department with “more tools” to provide options to Trump in regard to how to address the narco-terror threat in the region.
“We have a lot of options; we’ll make sure we have the authorities to do so, and we will protect the American people,” Hegseth said at the time.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, later in the evening of Jan. 3, issued the following statement regarding Maduro’s capture:
“I applaud President Donald Trump and his national security team for taking decisive action to hold Nicolás Maduro accountable and for confronting the criminal networks that have operated throughout Venezuela with impunity for far too long.
“A global narco-terrorist, Nicolás Maduro has enabled drug trafficking operations that have fueled violence, addiction, and death across the United States, including here in West Virginia. These networks have pushed deadly narcotics into our communities and torn apart too many families.
“West Virginia has buried far too many sons and daughters lost to fentanyl and other lethal drugs. Actions that disrupt the global supply chains responsible for that suffering are a step toward protecting our people, and sending a clear message that those who profit from poisoning Americans will be held to account.”
