Pompeo won’t promise to consult Congress about any potential military intervention

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday confirmed that the Trump administration is making contingency plans for U.S. military intervention in Venezuela — but he refused to say whether the administration would seek congressional authorization first.

When asked directly on ABC’s “This Week” whether President Donald Trump believes he has the power to intervene without seeking approval from Congress, he declined to answer.

“I don’t want to speak to that,” Pompeo said, pointing to the powers granted to the president as commander in chief under the Constitution. “The president has his full range of Article 2 authorities, and I’m very confident that any action we took in Venezuela would be lawful.”

The Trump administration has long flirted with the idea of a military intervention to back the campaign by Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who tried but failed last week to oust President Nicolás Maduro.

But Pompeo’s evasion of a direct question about the role of Congress — which is the body empowered to declare war under the Constitution — could strike a nerve with several Republicans, who have chafed at successive administrations pursuing military campaigns on what they see as flimsy or nonexistent legal grounds.

On Friday, Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., called on the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which he is a member, to hold a hearing on the use of military force in Venezuela, noting he was “concerned by reports of possible U.S. military intervention” without congressional authorization. Young is also chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s campaign arm for the Senate.