During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing Wednesday, Rubio justified the large-scale strike against the Venezuelan government in early January. The strike involved seizing two Venezuelan vessels and arresting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on charges of running an international narco-terrorism operation. Additionally, the profits from oil sales must be spent for the benefit of the Venezuelan people, which the Trump administration will oversee. The Senate had split 50-50 over a war powers resolution two weeks ago that would have curtailed further actions by the Trump administration in Venezuela. “We just don’t believe this operation comes anywhere close to the constitutional definition of a war,” Rubio replied, framing it instead as a law enforcement operation against an illegitimate political leader and criminal.