U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), who has a history of disagreeing with President Donald Trump and his policies, commented on the administration’s decision to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. (Both have been indicted in the Southern District of New York.)
Massie wrote: “If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law.”
If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 3, 2026
Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media: “Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States. They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 3, 2026
Several Democratic political pundits are responding to Bondi with fury including Joanne Carducci who replied about President Trump: “He literally just pardoned the Honduran president for the same [expletive], Pam.” (In November, Trump pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández despite his 45-year sentence for drug trafficking.)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also responded to the capture of Maduro. “It’s not about drugs,” the Congresswoman wrote. “If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It’s about oil and regime change. And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) responded to the news with more optimism. She wrote: “The capture of the brutal, illegitimate ruler of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who oppressed Venezuela’s people is welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled his violent, lawless, and disastrous rule.”
Yet the Florida Congresswoman, while applauding the result, also questioned the means by which it was achieved.
“I’ll demand answers as to why Congress and the American people were bypassed in this effort,” she wrote. “The absence of congressional involvement prior to this action risks the continuation of the illegitimate Venezuelan regime. Congress must be properly informed and hold hearings on this invasion. As always, I will work to bring about the promise of a liberated Venezuela.”
In statements leading up to the arrest of Maduro, Bondi and Trump leaned on Venezuela’s alleged theft of oil and trafficking of fentanyl as reasons for a potential U.S. military strike. After Maduro’s extraction Trump again emphasized oil theft as a trigger for action.
Yet Rep. Massie exposed the unsealed Maduro indictment as lacking any mention of those two items. “25 page indictment,” Massie wrote, “but no mention of fentanyl or stolen oil. Search it for yourself.”
25 page indictment but no mention of fentanyl or stolen oil. Search it for yourself. https://t.co/rXjbd6usLH
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) January 3, 2026
