Lankford says he'd be 'apoplectic' if Biden was striking boats 'with this level of insight'
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) questioned the Trump administration’s strikes on Venezuelan vessels without the approval of Congress.
“The administration needs to give insight into Congress. That's part of it. If this was happening with this level of insight under the Biden administration, I'd be apoplectic,” Lankford said during a Thursday appearance on C-SPAN’s new “Ceasefire” program.
He appeared alongside Democratic Sen. Chris Coons (Del.), who also shared that he was shocked after learning in the press about the attacks ordered by the White House.
“I serve on the Intelligence Committee. He serves as a senior Democrat on defense. This is typical consultation,” Lankford told host Dasha Burns.
“It's not permission, but it is, 'Hey, I want to let you know this is happening and hear the details of what's happening and here's why and what, and here's what we know,'” he added.
President Trump has alleged that the vessels targeted by the military were engaged in drug trafficking, which the Venezuelan government denies. Ten strikes have been carried out since the campaign started in September.
“I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has supported the operation and has shared video footage of the strikes on the social platform X.
“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda,” Hegseth wrote following a Thursday night strike that killed six “narco-terrorists.”
“Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”
Lankford said lawmakers do not oppose Trump’s efforts to solve the transnational sale of illegal narcotics, but he did urge the president to make members of Congress aware of his plans.
“I have Oklahomans that are dying from methamphetamine, from cocaine, from fentanyl, and from different drugs that are laced with fentanyl on it and mixing it in. That's happening in my state as it's happening all around the country. We've tried a lot of different approaches to be able to stop it,” Lankford told Burns.
“The president has turned the volume up to 11 and said, 'No, we're going to stop drugs coming into our country that are killing folks,'” he added. "Those are entirely appropriate to do. What we're missing is the communication, the coordination, and the ability to be able to say, let's talk out loud about this. We're not his opponent on this. We're an ally in this to be able to solve it, but we need to be able to have a voice on it as a co-equal branch.”