President Donald Trump acted within his constitutional authority in the operation that resulted in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro being taken into custody, Rep. Derrick Van Orden said on Newsmax Sunday.
Further, Trump was right not to brief members of Congress in advance out of fear of leaks, he said.
However, the Wisconsin Republican, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL, told Newsmax's "Sunday Report" that the executive branch must still brief Congress.
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday defended the administration’s decision not to brief senior congressional leaders ahead of the strike, arguing that advance notice could have jeopardized the operation.
Van Orden told Newsmax that there have been times when information discussed in closed-door settings was rapidly disseminated, as "the information that we're talking about as being live-tweeted within four seconds of it being said."
"I also understand that it's much more important that our military members are not put at risk because someone wants to go on Twitter or on X," he added. "There are members of the Democrat Party right now that would be willing to sabotage a military operation because they hate Donald Trump."
However, Van Orden said that the "executive branch 100% owes us a brief about what took place and their decision-making about it, and then the future steps," but he is "completely comfortable with the executive branch operating as the executive branch."
Democrats have accused Trump of acting unconstitutionally, but Van Orden rejected that criticism and said the commander in chief has clear authority to conduct military operations under Article II.
"Of course he does," he said. "It's absolutely 100% within the purview of Article II of the Constitution for the president of the United States, acting as the commander in chief, to conduct these military operations. Period."
Van Orden also praised the mission’s execution, calling it "one of the most fantastic special operations missions ever."
He said it was "incredibly complex" and took months of planning and involved layered coordination “from space down to a rifle in your hand…operating seamlessly."
"It was done to perfection," he said, adding, "I'm thanking God that they got out without anybody getting killed."
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