作为特朗普政府升级其压力运动针对委内瑞拉，参议院情报委员会的最高民主党人周日要求官员们向国会提供更多信息，说明政府对这个拉美国家的最终目标。
“特朗普总统对此案的理论是什么?是政权更迭吗?弗吉尼亚州参议员马克·华纳(Mark Warner)告诉美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)“本周”(This Week)的联合主播玛莎·拉达茨(Martha Raddatz)，我们已经在该地区积聚了几乎前所未有的力量，我认为总统需要向国会和美国人民寻求帮助，如果他的目标是进一步增加对马杜罗的压力，并可能发动力量的话。
“我不知道这位总统对委内瑞拉的目标是什么，”华纳补充说。“我们都知道，过去100年美国干预中美洲和南美洲的历史并不精彩。”
据分析，油轮被扣押增加了马杜罗的压力
俄亥俄州众议员迈克·特纳是众议院军事委员会的共和党人，他也对政府提供的信息不足提出了质疑。
特纳说:“总统一直不明确，他肯定没有与国会沟通，我认为他肯定一直在升级，无论是言辞还是在该地区的存在。”
虽然特纳表示，他同意政府对委内瑞拉的关注，但他同意华纳的观点，即需要向国会提出此案。
“我认为政府迟迟不告诉国会，是因为他们不想告诉所有人他们在做什么。他们不想摊牌，因为他们正在增加压力，”特纳说。
上周，海岸警卫队抓住一艘美国批准的油轮，美国称正在运送委内瑞拉石油。这艘名为“船长”的船只正在前往德克萨斯州的途中。委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗称法院批准的扣押是“犯罪海盗”行为。
奥巴马政府还对另外六艘运输委内瑞拉原油的船只实施了制裁，暗示可能会有更多船只被扣押。
特纳为扣押辩护，指出这是“符合有效的法律程序。”
“这无疑给委内瑞拉、马杜罗以及所有这些(影子石油)系统带来了额外的压力。特纳对拉达茨说:“这给全世界所有这些利用这些非法系统转移资金和石油的集团带来了冲击。“这是一个非常重要的举措。”
此次扣押正值拉丁美洲各地大规模集结军事资产和军队之际。美国杰拉尔德·福特号航空母舰是世界上最致命的航空母舰，在卫星图像中被发现距离委内瑞拉海岸约215英里，比以前看到的更近。大约15，000名美国士兵也驻扎在该地区。
白宫称美国打算继续扣押油轮的石油，对马杜罗家族实施新的制裁
尽管美国主要在加勒比海对涉嫌贩毒的船只进行了22次致命打击，但唐纳德·特朗普总统上周再次提出了扩大打击范围的可能性。
“现在我们从陆路开始，陆路容易得多，这将开始发生，”特朗普周五表示。“这不仅仅是对委内瑞拉的地面打击，也是对那些带来毒品并杀害我们人民的可怕的人的地面打击。”
这些行动似乎共同构成了对马杜罗的施压运动，美国政府曾表示马杜罗是委内瑞拉的非法总统。
马杜罗否认了关于他在2024年赢得该国总统选举的计票结果是欺诈性的指控;他说他是合法当选的。拜登政府还表示，他的对手以“数百万张选票”获胜。
“我同意委内瑞拉人民希望马杜罗下台，”华纳说，并补充说，他不认为拜登政府向马杜罗施加了足够的压力，让他下台。但这位参议员指出，他也担心如果马杜罗被“赶出去”会发生什么，包括这是否会导致美国军队在该国的存在。
特纳说，扣押油轮让“马杜罗停下来看看政府没有停下来，因为他们有军事存在，也有经济压力，这将使这个政权陷入非常妥协的境地。”
但是在政权更迭的问题上，当Raddatz追问时，Warner没有明确回答他是否支持。
“我认为马杜罗是个坏人。沃纳说:“世界上还有很多其他糟糕的领导人，而我们没有这种水平的集中力量。”。“我确实担心，在委内瑞拉的地面部队可能会是一场灾难。
Top Senate Intel Democrat demands more info from Trump administration on its Venezuela actions
As the Trump administrationescalates its pressure campaignagainst Venezuela, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee on Sunday demanded officials provide more information to Congress about the administration's ultimate objective with the Latin American country.
"What is President Trump's theory of the case? Is it regime change? We've got -- an amassed force almost unprecedented in the region, and I think the president needs to come to Congress and the American people if his goal is to further increase pressure on Maduro and potentially launch forces," Virginia Sen. Mark Warner told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
"I do not know what this president's goal vis-a-vis Venezuela is," Warner added. "We all know the history of American intervention in Central America and South America over the last 100 years has not been a great story."
Oil tanker seizure ratchets up pressure on Maduro: Analysis
Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, also took issue with the lack of information the administration provided.
"The president has not been, been clear, and he's not certainly been communicating with, with Congress, and I think he has been certainly escalating, both the rhetoric and certainly the presence in the area," Turner said.
While Turner said he agreed with the administration's focus on Venezuela, he concurred with Warner that the case needs to be made to Congress.
"I think the administration, though, is being slow to tell Congress because they don't want to tell everybody what they're doing. They don't want to show their hands as they're increasing this pressure," Turner said.
Last week, the Coast Guardseizeda U.S.-sanctioned oil tanker the U.S. said was shipping Venezuelan oil. The vessel, called The Skipper, is now on its way to Texas. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the court-approved seizure an act of "criminal piracy."
The administration also slapped sanctions on six additional vessels shipping Venezuelan crude oil, suggesting additional seizures could follow.
Turner defended the seizure, noting it was "done consistent with valid legal processes."
"It certainly puts additional pressure upon Venezuela, upon Maduro, but also upon all of these [shadow oil] systems. This sends shock waves around the world to all of these, these groups that are using these illegal systems to move money, to move oil," Turner told Raddatz. "This is a very important move."
The seizure comes amid a massive buildup of military assets and troops around Latin America. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the most lethal aircraft carrier in the world, was spotted in satellite imagery about 215 miles from the coast of Venezuela, closer than previously seen. Some 15,000 U.S. troops are also positioned in the region.
White House says US intends to keep seized tanker's oil, hits Maduro family with new sanctions
And while the U.S. has conducted 22 lethal strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats mostly in the Caribbean Sea, President Donald Trump last week again raised the possibility of expanding the strikes.
"And now we're starting by land, and by land is a lot easier, and that's going to start happening," Trump said Friday. "It's not only land strikes on Venezuela, it's land strikes on horrible people that are bringing in drugs and killing our people."
The actions together appear to amount to a pressure campaign on Maduro, who the administration has said is an illegitimate president of Venezuela.
Maduro has denied accusations that the tally showing he won the country's presidential election in 2024 was fraudulent; he says he was legitimately elected. The Biden administration also said his opponent won by "millions of votes."
"I agree that the Venezuelan people want Maduro gone," Warner said, adding that he doesn't believe the Biden administration put enough pressure on Maduro to get him out of office. But the senator noted he also has concerns about what would happen if Maduro was "pushed out," including whether it would lead to a U.S. troop presence in the country.
Seizing the tanker, Turner said, gives "Maduro the pause to see that the administration is not stopping, both as they have this military presence, but also economic pressure, that's going to put this regime, certainly in a very compromised position."
But on the question of regime change, Warner did not definitively answer whether he supports it when pressed by Raddatz.
"I think Maduro is a bad guy. There's plenty of other bad leaders around the world where we don't have this level of massed forces," Warner said. "I do fear that boots on the ground in Venezuela could be a disaster."
