Trump has announced that the US will continue operations in Venezuela after the capture of Maduro

Arguably the most dangerous jobs in the world are golf ball collector at the driving range, mascot at Chuck E. Cheese, and attorney for the Trump administration.

That was evident at yesterday’s press conference as President Trump blew up the carefully crafted story presented earlier for the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Some of us had written that Trump had a winning legal argument by focusing on the execution of two people who were indicted by relying on previous decisions of the judges, including the decisions in the case of the former dictator of Panama Manuel Noriega.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and retired Air Force Gen. Dan Caine stayed in the text and emphasized this narrative. Both of them also noted that this was an operation aimed at bringing two people before the court and that the law enforcement officers were part of the team that issued the seizure of assets to put them in legal custody. Rubio, too, was particularly successful in insisting that Maduro was not a head of state but a criminal dictator who took control after losing a democratic election.

However, while noting the intent of the kidnapping, Trump continued to announce that the United States will participate in nation-building to achieve permanent regime change. He stated that they will be running Venezuela to ensure that there is a friendly government and the payment of US assets seized from the government of Maduro’s mentor and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

This town is full of self-proclaimed Trump gossips who rarely score more than a random pick in their predictions. However, there are certain aspects to Trump’s approach to such matters. First, he is the most outspoken president in my lifetime with long (sometimes ridiculously long) press conferences and brutal frankness about his motives. Second, he is shameless and undoubtedly trades in many of his works. He is not ashamed to say what he wants the country to get out of this agreement.

In Venezuela, you want a stable partner, and you want oil.

Chávez and Maduro implemented brutal socialist policies that reduced one of the most successful countries to an economic basket case. They brought in Cuban security forces to help keep people under repressive conditions, as a third fled to the United States and other countries.

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After the unusual task of arresting Maduro, Trump confronted Maduro’s social allies at all levels of government. He is not willing to allow those same regressive elements to reassert themselves.

The problem is that, if the goal was regime change, this attack was an act of war, which is why Rubio is fighting to bring the publisher back to the goal of law enforcement. I have long been critical of the erosion of Congress’s power to declare war, including my advocacy of members of Congress against Obama’s Libya war effort.

The truth, however, is that we lost that case. Trump knows that. Courts often dismiss challenges to military violations in other nations. In fairness to Trump, most Democrats were as quiet as church mice while Obama and Hillary Clinton attacked the Libyan capital and military bases to implement regime change without congressional approval. They were also silent when Obama fired an American under this “kill list” policy without criminal charges. So please spare me from getting angry now.

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My strong preferences for congressional authorization and consultation are irrelevant. The question I am asked as a legal analyst is whether this operation will be viewed as legal. The answer is always yes.

Courts have upheld the president’s authority to detain people from abroad, including heads of state. This case is actually stronger in many ways than the one involving Noriega. Maduro is about to make the same failed arguments that Noriega raised. He should lose those challenges under the existing precedent. If the courts apply the same standards to Trump (which is often an uncertain proposition), Trump will win the right to take Maduro and bring him to justice.

However, what about other superstitions that were reversed at Mar-a-Lago? In my opinion, it won’t matter. Here’s why:

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The purpose and immediate effect of the operation was to arrest Maduro and bring him to face his trial in New York. That’s Noriega 2.0. The authorities took him into custody when he was released by law enforcement and then handed him over to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

The Trump administration would say that it had to face the consequences of that performance and would not simply leave the country without a leader or a stable government. Trump emphasized that, “We will manage the country until the time comes when we can make a transition that is safe, proper and wise.”

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I still don’t like the import of those statements. The Venezuelan people must run their country and our role, if any, should be to help them establish a stable democratic government. Trump added that “We will not take the chance of someone else taking over Venezuela that does not have the best interests of the Venezuelan people in mind.”

The devil is in the details. The people of Venezuela must decide who has their best interests at heart, not the United States.

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However, if I go back to the legal aspects, I don’t see how the court can release Maduro just because he doesn’t approve of nation building. Presidents have shared these goals for years. The result of the operation is different from its current purpose. Trump could argue that, absent a counter-action from Congress, he has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to lay the groundwork for constitutional and economic reform in Venezuela.

He will leave it to his lawyers to file that case. It’s not that some of us choose, but it’s a matter of what you want done. He is not someone to write down. It is his document and he may succeed in arresting Maduro and his wife for trial.

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