(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’ll oppose today’s (Thursday) scheduled vote on a resolution that would limit President Trump’s power to order any further military action in Venezuela. The war powers resolution would mean the president would need congressional approval before launching more attacks. Grassley, a Republican, says that’s unwarranted. “The president is acting legally,” Grassley says, “based upon the fact that each time these boats are sunk, that you’ve seen on television, they’re generally carrying about $50 million worth of drugs.”

Over the weekend, the U-S military seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a nighttime raid to face trial in New York, while the U-S has taken control of the South American nation’s government and oil infrastructure. Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, called for the war powers vote, and says more resolutions are pending, for nations including Columbia, Cuba and Mexico. “It’s a case of Senator Kaine wanting to express Congress’ disapproval of what the president’s done and that he was acting contrary to the Constitution,” Grassley says. “I don’t think he was acting contrary to the Constitution, so I’m going to vote no.”

Grassley says Maduro will face charges for drug trafficking in what he calls “narcoterrorism” that’s claimed many thousands of American lives. Grassley is also standing behind Trump’s orders for ICE agents to conduct immigration raids in the Twin Cities, during which a woman was shot and killed in Minneapolis on Wednesday. “They’re law enforcement people and they’re enforcing the law,” he says, “and I think that it doesn’t need to be reviewed. I think they’re carrying out the law.”

Grassley says he listened to last night’s comments from U-S Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said a full federal review of the fatal shooting will be conducted. “We ought to wait until the FBI gets done with this investigation before I make a decision that something wrong was done,” Grassley says. “There is wrong done by law enforcement from time to time, but you can’t stop a whole law enforcement activity in Minneapolis because of this one incident.”

Thousands of people demonstrated in the Twin Cities last night (Wednesday night), hours after the 37-year-old woman was shot in the head in her SUV as she pulled away from a confrontation with ICE agents. Reports say it happened about a mile from where police killed George Floyd in 2020.