AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Earlier this month, President Trump ordered a U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean that administration officials suspected of smuggling a drug shipment from Venezuela. Venezuelan officials last week said none of those killed were gang members, but the administration insists the strike, which killed 11 people, was entirely legal. And the strike is dividing lawmakers, including members of Trump's own party. NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales has more.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says the recent U.S. attack on a Venezuelan boat in the Caribbean has shifted the country's rules of engagement.
LINDSEY GRAHAM: We're considering narco-terrorist states to be military threats, not law enforcement threats.
GRISALES: The key ally of President Trump says the old days of drug interdiction are gone. Typically, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepts vessels at sea, confiscating illegal drugs and arresting suspects. Graham says the U.S. military strike was different, and it signals it's time for Venezuela to take heed.
GRAHAM: This is a boatload full of narco-terrorist gang members that were going to continue to poison America. So I'm OK.
GRISALES: President Trump said illegal drugs and members of the Tren de Aragua criminal gang on board presented an imminent threat. Like many members, Graham says he's also in the dark on exactly who was killed in the September 2 attack in international waters.
Have you gotten any confirmation that's who was on the boat?
GRAHAM: No.
GRISALES: But not everyone agrees. Republican Senator Rand Paul says the strike sets a dangerous precedent for the country. He's worried President Trump will now use force whenever he likes.
RAND PAUL: Is it going to be the new Coast Guard policy to shoot without asking questions?
GRISALES: That's the Kentucky Republican after a recent series of votes. Now Paul is the loudest GOP critic of the attack that's tested U.S. rules of engagement with its war on drugs.
PAUL: People need to ask the administration, is there a new policy? Was this a one-off?
GRISALES: Trump has defended the strike by saying the boat was headed for the States.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Venezuela's been very bad both in terms of drugs and sending some of the worst criminals anywhere in the world into our country.
GRISALES: But that's largely all members know. The administration has yet to share identities of those killed or legal justification for bypassing Congress for the strike, and that's helped fuel questions of whether it violated both domestic and international laws.
OONA HATHAWAY: It's really an extraordinary expansion of how the United States deals with these kinds of challenges.
GRISALES: That's Yale University law professor Oona Hathaway. She says the strike has an anti-legal nature because the boat's direct threat to the United States is not clear. The Constitution requires Congress to declare war before a strike unless there's an imminent threat where the president can take action.
HATHAWAY: Does this signal that there's going to be strikes on cartels - or supposed drug cartels - in Venezuela or in Mexico? Is it setting the stage for something more?
GRISALES: Hathaway says there's no evidence of a careful assessment determining military action was the only choice.
HATHAWAY: The fact that Congress has just been completely left out the loop suggests the Trump administration doesn't feel that it has to follow the ordinary rules of the game.
GRISALES: Paul is joining Democrats in demanding more information, but not all Republicans are so concerned. Here's Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
JOHN THUNE: Well, I mean, I wouldn't read too much into it. I think it was a clear interpretation by the cartels. You continue to ship substances up here that are killing Americans, we're going to deal with it as a national security threat.
GRISALES: Still, critics worry that the lack of justification and consultation with Congress could launch the U.S. into a new era of expanded war powers for the president.
Claudia Grisales, NPR News, the Capitol. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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