Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma has raised concerns regarding the Trump administration’s military actions against Venezuelan vessels, which were executed without seeking congressional approval.

“The administration needs to give insight into Congress. That’s part of it. If this was happening with this level of insight under the Biden administration, I’d be apoplectic,” Lankford said during a Thursday appearance on C-SPAN’s new “Ceasefire” program.

Appearing alongside Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, Lankford expressed surprise upon learning about the attacks through media reports. Coons shared a similar sentiment, indicating his surprise at the White House’s lack of communication.

“I am a member of the Intelligence Committee, and Senator Coons is a senior Democrat on defense matters. This level of consultation is standard,” Lankford stated during an interview with host Dasha Burns.

He elaborated, “While it’s not about seeking permission, it’s about informing us of the actions being taken, explaining the reasons and details, and sharing what information is available.”

President Trump has justified the military strikes by claiming that the targeted vessels were involved in drug trafficking activities, a claim that the Venezuelan government has denied. Since the campaign’s initiation in September, ten strikes have been conducted.

“I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Trump told reporters on Thursday. “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has supported the operation and has shared video footage of the strikes on the social platform X.

“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda,” Hegseth wrote following a Thursday night strike that killed six “narco-terrorists.” 

“Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”

Lankford said lawmakers do not oppose Trump’s efforts to solve the transnational sale of illegal narcotics, but he did urge the president to make members of Congress aware of his plans.

“I have Oklahomans that are dying from methamphetamine, from cocaine, from fentanyl, and from different drugs that are laced with fentanyl on it and mixing it in. That’s happening in my state as it’s happening all around the country. We’ve tried a lot of different approaches to be able to stop it,” Lankford told Burns.

“The president has turned the volume up to 11 and said, ‘No, we’re going to stop drugs coming into our country that are killing folks,’” he added. “Those are entirely appropriate to do. What we’re missing is the communication, the coordination, and the ability to be able to say, let’s talk out loud about this. We’re not his opponent on this. We’re an ally in this to be able to solve it, but we need to be able to have a voice on it as a co-equal branch.”