US Senate eyes vote to reign in Trump as fears grow over US action in Venezuela
Democrats will make a fresh attempt to stop President Donald Trump from taking further action in Venezuela after he captured the country's former president Nicolas Maduro.
Listen to this article
Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, said the party will push for a vote this week in frenzied efforts to reign in the US president.
It comes after Mr Trump acted unilaterally to launch multiple strikes on Venezuela during its operation to capture the country’s dictator.
Congress has over the course of Mr Trump’s presidency weighed several bills that would force the president to seek legislative approval before ordering a military strike.
Last year, House Democrats attempted to implement a similar measure as US forces began to mass in the Caribbean.
The motion was narrowly defeated in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, but Democrats are hoping to rally more Republicans this time around.
Read more: Narco-subs: Venezuela's drug smuggling submarines 'evade detection from border force'
Read more: Labour peer urges Government to sanction US over actions in Venezuela
However, some Democrats are privately concerned that implementing new war powers with the wrong wording could give the incorrect impression that the House is allowing Trump to take further action in Venezuela, according to Politico.
Mr Trump said on Thursday the US could remain in control of Venezuela for years to come and said it would handle its oil sales “indefinitely”.
It comes as fears mount the president could also order US troops to acquire Greenland, which belongs to Denmark.
The White House said in a statement on Wednesday: "President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it's vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region.
"The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the US military is always an option at the commander-in-chief's disposal."
The statement came as Mr Trump said the operation in Venezuela to remove Maduro proves the US has "the most powerful, most lethal, most sophisticated" military in the world.
Speaking at the House Republican Party (GOP) member retreat on Tuesday, the president warned "nobody can take us".
He said: "It's [the most] fearsome military on planet Earth, and it's not even close. You know, I've been saying it for a long time. Nobody can take us."
Speaking of the operation, Trump said: "They knew we were coming... the electricity for almost the entire country was turned off.
"That's when they knew there was a problem. There was no electricity... So we sort of got them a little by surprise, but it was a brilliant. It was brilliant tactically. It was an incredible thing."