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Senate Democrats Excluded from Briefing on Boat Strikes in the Caribbean

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A Democratic Senator from Virginia is accusing the Trump administration of briefing only Republican lawmakers about the US military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.  

Senator Mark Warner (D- VA), the top Democratic member on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the meeting without Democratic lawmakers a “partisan stunt”. The Senator is demanding the administration to provide the legal justification for these military strikes to all members, regardless of party. He claims a select group of Republican Senators received that justification during a classified briefing earlier this week. This comes at a time when tensions with Venezuela is escalating following the recent US military strikes on boats in the Caribbean. The administration claims they are carrying drugs. 

”When an administration decides it can pick and choose which elected representatives get the understanding of their legal argument of why this is needed for military force and only chooses a particular party, it ignores all checks and balances,” said Sen. Warner.  

The Senator said the White House said it would make the legal justification and other details from the briefing available to some Democrats. Warner said so far, the White House has not provided that.