Republicans in the U.S. Senate are said to be split over whether the United States should pursue regime change in Venezuela. The usual suspects, led by Lindsey Graham (SC), are for it. Others are uncertain while Rand Paul (KY), not surprisingly, is flat-out opposed.
One Republican senator, who refused to be named, said the Trump administration seems intent on ousting Nicolás Maduro even though Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators in a briefing last week that it’s not their goal. “I do not want to put ground troops in Venezuela. I don’t want to have another Afghanistan or Iraq,” the senator told The Hill. “I’m not in favor of U.S.-directed regime change.”
“Marco said repeatedly that regime change is not the policy of the United States; it was not the focus of the anti-narcotrafficking policy,” the senator said.
