Wyoming’s two senior members of Congress are backing the Trump administration’s military strikes on Venezuela and the capture of the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
Republican Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis posted statements over the weekend on social media that called Maduro a “narco-terrorist” and thanked the U.S. military, which carried out the Saturday raid on Caracas.
“Maudro is a dictator, a narco-terrorist, and an indicted criminal in the United States,” Barrasso posted on X. “Venezuela, America, and the world are safer with this dangerous dictator removed from power.”
Likewise, Lummis posted on X that she was “grateful to President Trump for his decisive leadership and to our military and law enforcement personnel who executed this operation with extraordinary courage and skill.”
“Peace through strength works,” Lummis wrote. “Maduro will finally answer for his crimes in American courts.”
Maduro had led Venezuela since 2013. But many countries, including the United States, refused to recognize him as a legitimate head of state. In 2024, the Biden administration accused Maduro of stealing the presidential election, citing “overwhelming evidence” that his opponent, Edmundo González Urrutia, won.
A 2020 U.S. indictment accused Maduro of overseeing “Cartel de los Soles,” which the Trump administration has described as a violent drug organization. However, a range of specialists in Latin American criminal and narcotics issues, including former Drug Enforcement Administration officials, maintain that “Cartel de los Soles” is instead a figure of speech, dating back to the 1990s, for Venezuelan military officials corrupted by drug money. Since the 2020 indictment, both the Trump and Biden administrations offered millions in reward for information leading to his arrest.
At least 80 people were killed, including military personnel and civilians, during the Caracas raid, the New York Times reported. No Americans were killed. Following Maduro’s removal, Trump announced the United States would “run” the country for an indefinite period.
But Venezuelan leaders gathered Monday for a swearing-in ceremony to project independence in running their country, the Associated Press reported.
Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman, who recently announced plans to run for Senate now that Lummis is retiring, has so far not made a public statement on the invasion, via the press, press release or social media. Neither her campaign or congressional press contact responded to WyoFile’s request for comment by publishing time.
Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who is running to replace Hageman in the U.S. House, released a statement backing the invasion.
While most conservative, congressional lawmakers have voiced support for Trump’s actions, some have raised concerns that such a strike supersedes Congress’ authority to declare war.
“If the President believes military action against Venezuela is needed, he should make the case and Congress should vote before American lives and treasure are spent on regime change in South America,” Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, said on the House floor last month as the chamber considered a pair of resolutions to force Trump to secure approval from Congress before attacking Venezuela.
Both resolutions failed. Massie reposted a video of his floor comments Saturday following the raid.
“Let’s be honest about likely outcomes. Do we truly believe that Nicolás Maduro will be replaced by a modern-day George Washington? How did that work out in Cuba, Libya, Iraq or Syria?” Massie said in his comments last month.
The Kentucky Republican also expressed skepticism about the Trump administration’s stated motivation behind the strikes.
“If it were about drugs, we’d bomb Mexico, or China, or Colombia,” Massie said. “And the President would not have pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández. This is about oil and regime change.”
Last month, Trump pardoned Hernández, the former Hondruan president, who had been convicted in the U.S. for helping smuggle more than 400 tons of cocaine into the country.
“They basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country,” Trump told reporters. “And they said it was a Biden administration set-up. And I looked at the facts and I agreed with them.”
I agree. It’s not about narco-terrorism, it’s to control the oil. Barrasso isn’t up for reelection until 2031, so he can continue to approve of the President’s actions. Lummis is a lame duck, nothing she says now, or ever means anything. Gray, well, I think he’s still waiting for an endorsement. Finally. It’s interesting that Hageman is mum…..maybe somebody hasn’t told her what she needs to support. Frankly, I would have thought that she’d be all over this, but Venezuela oil and big petroleum companies involvement is in direct competition with Wyoming. So….we’ll see
Removing Maduro yet pardoning a convicted trafficker shows glaringly just how two faced and corrupted our elected officials are! It’s all about trump enriching himself and big oil who were big donors and will be big donors to maga candidates in ’26 and ’28.
Thomas Massie, one of the few residents of DC that has his head screwed on straight.
Predictable as the sunrise. Trump’s rubber stamps.
This is the truth of the matter (from Rep Massie), ““If it were about drugs, we’d bomb Mexico, or China, or Colombia,” Massie said. “And the President would not have pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández. This is about oil and regime change.” I would add it is also about Trump wanting to show he is a “Tough Guy.”
And it’s a distraction for the EPSTEIN files.
These three trump goons would support anything that the criminal in the white house says or does.
Thank you Maggie for continuing in your attempts to try and inform the people of Wyoming what’s really happening outside of the MAGA bubble.
All that the picture that was used for this piece needed was some puppet strings connecting Barrasso and Lummis to their master Trump.