特朗普政府本周提供了十几个参议院共和党人它的秘密目标名单加勒比海正在进行的军事行动，以及攻击的详细法律依据，官员们周四表示，这是共和党仅限国会山简报的一部分，激怒了民主党人。
共和党人和民主党人都要求的军事行动的新信息延伸到他们的第二个月，表明政府正在准备持续打击贩毒集团的行动，并认为军事打击可以承受潜在的法律挑战。
目前还不清楚政府为什么只邀请某些共和党人和一些官员参加简报会推测该名单旨在动摇某些立法者对国会酝酿中的战争权力法案的辩论以及立法者是否应该在军事行动之前有更多的发言权。
“当一个政府决定它可以挑选哪些当选代表理解他们的法律论点，即为什么(毒品卡特尔)需要军事力量，并且只选择一个特定的政党时，它忽略了所有的制衡，”参议院情报特别委员会(Senate Select Committee on Intelligence)首席民主党人、弗吉尼亚州参议员马克·华纳(Mark Warner)表示。
“国会在这方面有监督作用。这是美国政府101，”他后来补充道。
今年早些时候，唐纳德·特朗普总统指定某些贩毒集团他说，作为“恐怖组织”，这一法律名称使他能够打击任何涉嫌向美国走私毒品的人。
在最近给国会的一份关于罢工的通知中，特朗普的律师表示，美国正处于“一个武装冲突“跟卡特尔在一起。
法律专家质疑将毒品走私者与像基地组织这样的武装分子联系起来的理由，因为他们不一定会对美国人构成迫在眉睫的风险。
自9月2日以来，军方已经进行了14次袭击，造成61人死亡，并发布了船只爆炸的视频。
“西半球不再是毒品恐怖分子的避风港，他们将毒品带到我们的海岸毒害美国人，”国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯在最新一轮打击后在X上写道。
消息人士称，在本周之前，政府提供了两份参议院两党简报，一份给议员，一份给立法者。两次都没有为罢工提供详细的法律依据。
五角大楼新闻秘书金斯利·威尔逊拒绝回答有关简报以及为什么民主党人没有被邀请的问题。
“在针对毒枭恐怖分子的行动中，陆军部已多次向包括参议院情报委员会在内的相关司法委员会通报情况。这些都发生在两党的基础上，并将继续如此，”她说。
在情报和武装部队委员会任职的南达科他州共和党参议员迈克·劳斯(Mike Rounds)表示，他对只邀请共和党人的名单感到不安，并表示他与白宫讨论过确保未来的访问包括两党成员。
“这是一个不幸的情况，我希望它不会以这种方式发生，”Rounds告诉记者，他补充说，他与一些同事交谈，他们都同意这样的会议应该在两党的基础上举行。
爱达荷州参议员詹姆斯·里施(James Risch)表示，他对简报的处理方式没有意见，并对他们提供的答案表示满意。
他说:“我离开那里时确信，正如我进去时一样，总统有绝对的权力——不仅仅是权力和义务——在有人向美国发送东西来攻击和杀害美国人时保护美国人民。
在众议院方面，政府周四向众议院军事委员会的共和党人和民主党人做了简报，尽管律师没有在场讨论法律依据。
根据一名众议院民主党人的说法，立法者被告知货物中的毒品是可卡因，而不是芬太尼。
“他们承认，来自这个地区的所有毒品都是可卡因，”加州民主党众议员萨拉·雅各布斯(Sara Jacobs)说。“他们稍微谈到了可卡因和芬太尼之间的联系，尽管我不相信他们所说的是准确的。”
雅各布斯说，议员们还被告知，政府不需要明确指出这些船只上的个人来进行打击。
“他们只需要证明与走私有关，”她说。
Trump administration gave GOP senators secret details about strikes on alleged drug boats, leaving Dems on outs
The Trump administration this week provided more than a dozen Senate Republicansa secret target list for itsongoing military campaign in the Caribbean Sea, as well asa detailed legal rationale for the attacks,officials said Thursday, as part of a GOP-only Capitol Hill briefing that angered Democrats.
The new information, which had been requested by both Republicans and Democrats as the military operationsstretched into their second month, suggested the administration was preparing for sustained operations against drug cartels and that it believed the military strikes could withstand potential legal challenges.
It was not immediately clear why the administration invited only certain Republicans to the briefing, with some officialsspeculating the list was aimed at swaying certain lawmakers on a brewing debate in Congress on the War Powers Actand whether lawmakers should have more of a say in advance of the military operations.
"When an administration decides it can pick and choose which elected representatives get the understanding of their legal argument of why [drug cartels need] military force and only chooses a particular party, it ignores all the checks and balances," said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
"Congress has an oversight role here. This is US Government 101," he later added.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trumpdesignated certain drug cartelsas "terrorist organizations," a legal designation he says enables him to strike anyone suspected of smuggling narcotics toward the United States.
In a recent notification to Congress about the strikes, Trump's lawyers said the U.S. was in an "armed conflict" with the cartels.
Legal experts have questioned the rationale of linking drug smugglers to armed militants like al-Qaida because they would not necessarily pose an imminent risk to Americans.
Since Sept. 2, the military has conducted 14 strikes and killed 61 people, posting video of boats exploding.
"The Western Hemisphere is no longer a safe haven for narco-terrorists bringing drugs to our shores to poison Americans," wrote Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on X after the latest round of strikes.
Sources say that before this week, the administration provided two Senate bipartisan briefings -- one for members and one for lawmakers. Neither time provided a detailed legal rationale for the strikes.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson declined to answer questions about the briefings and why Democrats weren't invited.
"Department of War has briefed the appropriate committees of jurisdiction, including the Senate Intelligence committee, numerous times throughout the operations targeting narco-terrorists. These have occurred on a bipartisan basis, and will continue as such," she said.
Sen. Mike Rounds, a South Dakota Republican who is on the intelligence and armed services committees, suggested he was uncomfortable with the Republican-only invitation list and said he spoke to the White House about ensuring future access includes members of both parties.
"This is an unfortunate situation, and I wish it wouldn't have happened this way," Rounds told reporters, who added that he talked to a number of colleagues who said they all agreed such meetings should be held on a bipartisan basis.
Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said he had no issue with how the briefing was handled and said he was satisfied with the answers they provided.
"I left there convinced as I was when I went in that the president has absolute authority -- not only authority, the duty -- to protect the American people when somebody is sending something the United States to attack and kill Americans," he said.
On the House side, the administration briefed both Republicans and Democrats on Thursday from the House Armed Services Committee, although lawyers were not on hand to discuss the legal rationale.
According to one House Democrat, lawmakers were told the narcotics being targeted in the shipments were cocaine, not fentanyl.
"They admitted that all of the narcotics coming out of this part of the world is cocaine," said Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif. "They talked a little bit about the connection between cocaine and fentanyl, although I'm not convinced that what they said was accurate."
Jacobs said lawmakers were also told the government does not need to positively identify individuals on these vessels to do the strikes.
"They just need to prove a connection to smuggling," she said.
