Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told reporters on Monday that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was the impetus behind President Donald Trump’s decision to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
The operation took place on Saturday morning when U.S. military forces launched a series of airstrikes near Maduro’s bunker. Special Forces entered the compound and apprehended the Venezuelan president and his wife, and later brought them to New York to face several charges.
Paul was one of several Republican leaders criticizing the move, while Graham had been advocating for Trump to take military action in Venezuela for months.
From The Hill:
Conservative Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday pointed the finger directly at his colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), as the primary instigator behind President Trump’s surprise mission to send U.S. special operators into Caracas to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Paul lamented what he sees as a reversal from Trump’s previous staunch opposition to nation-building and said Graham was a major factor in changing the president’s thinking on foreign policy.
“This is Lindsey Graham. Lindsey Graham has gotten to the president, who expressed — I saw a clip — there’s like 20 clips of [Trump] saying he’s not for regime change and how regime change has always gone wrong. Somehow they’ve convinced him it’s different if it’s in our hemisphere,” Paul told reporters Monday, lamenting the growing influence of hawkish Republicans such as Graham on Trump’s Venezuela policy.
Graham expressed his frustration last month when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators in a classified briefing that regime change in Venezuela was not an option the administration was considering.
“I want to know what’s going to happen next. Is it the policy to take Maduro down? It should be, if it’s not. And if he goes, what’s going to happen next? I’d like a better answer as to what happens when Maduro goes,” Graham said after the briefing with Hegseth and Rubio.
Graham, in the wake of the Venezuela operation, said the communist Cuban government may fall next. The South Carolina senator responded to the capture of Maduro on Saturday with two words: “Free Cuba.”
While speaking with reporters after the operation, Paul lamented Trump’s seeming change of heart on foreign entanglements.
“This is something that I remember in the first debate in 2016, the first presidential debate, when I was there in the primary, talking to his family, and how they all said, ‘Oh, we like Ron Paul. We like the Paul family. We like this idea of not being involved in this foreign war,” the senator said.
It was something I liked about Donald Trump. It was one of the things whenever I had misgivings about something else, I would always come back and say, Well, he's the best we've ever had, much better than the Bushes who were war-mad and wanted to be involved in all these crazy wars overseas the world safe for democracy. I never liked any of that, and I thought Trump was different. It disappoints me, but he's under the thrall of Lindsay Graham.
Rand Paul is disappointed by Trump’s raid in Venezuela:
— The American Conservative (@amconmag) January 5, 2026
“Whenever I had misgivings, I’d always say ‘he’s the best we’ve ever had,’ much better than the Bushes who were war mad. I thought Trump was different so it disappoints me that he’s under the thrall of Lindsey Graham.” pic.twitter.com/9U5LP3vjxi
Back in December, Graham appeared on Meet the Press advocating for military intervention in Venezuela. When asked about the issue, he said. “If you're an American and you want Maduro to stay in power, man, have you lost your way?”
Senator Lindsey Graham:
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 21, 2025
If you’re an American and you want Maduro to stay in power, man, have you lost your way. pic.twitter.com/FqZqhdB6Z0
Maduro and his wife appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday. They pleaded not guilty to several charges, including participating in narco-terrorism.
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