Harvard University professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said on Friday that President Donald Trump acted within his constitutional authority in a U.S. military operation in Venezuela, arguing the Constitution does not require advance notice to Congress for a limited, one-time action. Dershowitz rejected claims that Trump violated the law by committing military action in Venezuela, calling the operation a constitutional exercise of executive power under Article II. “Of course not,” Dershowitz said when asked whether the action was illegal. He pointed to what he described as the “best precedent,” President Barack Obama ordering special operation forces into Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden without seeking prior authorization from Congress.
Dershowitz said the mission involved entering a foreign country without that country’s approval, and he likened it to what he called the “capture” of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, another “one-off.” Dershowitz argued that nothing in the Constitution requires prior notice to Congress for such actions and said advance notice can undermine operational security. He said a Congress “leaking like a sieve” makes prior notification a “terrible idea,” and he contended that the bin Laden raid, and the Venezuela action he discussed, could have been jeopardized by early disclosures.
