This story has been updated.

Members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation decried Saturday morning’s military strike in Venezuela, saying it was “illegal” and “unauthorized.”

Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country after months of stepped-up pressure by Washington. President Donald Trump insisted the U.S. government would run the country at least temporarily and was already doing so.

“If we’re starting another endless war, with no clear national security strategy or need, count me out,” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in a statement. “Maduro is a cruel criminal dictator, but President Trump has never sought approval from Congress for war as the Constitution requires — and our military deserves. … The American people deserve — and Congress should demand — facts and clarity.”

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, also condemned the action.

“Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, but I have seen no evidence that his presidency poses a threat that would justify military action without Congressional authorization, nor have I heard a strategy for the day after and how we will prevent Venezuela from descending into chaos,” said Himes, ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in a statement. “The administration must immediately brief Congress on its plan.”

U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, also raised questions about the legality of the move.

“President Trump’s claim that today’s unauthorized, unilateral military strike in Venezuela is a ‘law enforcement’ action against indicted drug trafficker Maduro rings hollow after the president just pardoned a convicted drug dealer, the former president of Honduras, who was serving a 45-year sentence in U.S. prison, 34 days ago,” Courtney said.

On the social media platform X, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., questioned Trump’s motives.

“He is starting an illegal war with Venezuela that Americans didn’t ask for,” he wrote. “This is about satisfying Trump’s vanity, making good on the long standing neocon grudge against Maduro, enriching Trump’s oil industry backers, and distracting voters from Epstein and rising costs.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3rd District, also raised concerns about the constitutionality of the action.

“President Trump’s unilateral decision … threatens global order and is a fundamental violation of the Constitution,” she said in a statement. “This new foreign policy … is the exact same reasoning that China would use to justify invading Taiwan, and which Russia has used to assault Ukraine.”

DeLauro said Trump “is preparing a giant corrupt giveaway to oil companies by claiming that the United States will acquire Venezuela’s oil. This is corruption of the highest order.”

“Whatever happens next, the responsibility will be squarely with President Trump and his contempt for the Constitution and for Congress.”

Later Saturday, U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, issued a statement.

“The Constitution entrusts Congress, not the president, with the power to declare war for a reason,” Larson said in the statement. “It’s Congress’s responsibility to decide whether the nation goes to war or not! That’s why I’m joining with others in calling on the president to immediately brief Congress — and for Congress to assert its authority under the Constitution and the War Powers Act — to let this president know he does not have the authority to unilaterally commit our country to yet another endless war.”

State Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said the move was “unpopular and illegal.”

“President Trump never laid out the need or the plan to the American people or Congress before attacking a sovereign nation and putting the lives of the men and women of our military at risk,” Duff said in a statement. “This is an unpopular and illegal attack motivated by the vanity of a president focused on TV ratings instead of exploding prices here at home.”

Trump brushed off criticism from U.S. Democratic lawmakers that he did not seek permission from Congress ahead of time and that the strike was illegal. He called his Democratic critics “weak, stupid people” and blamed his political opponents for inflation in the U.S.

He said the operation in Venezuela was “really genius.”

“All they do is complain,” he said of the Democrats.

“They should say, ‘Great job.’ They shouldn’t say, ‘Oh Gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’ You know, the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years,” Trump said.

The Connecticut Republican party issued a statement supporting Trump’s efforts to “stop the flow of deadly drugs into our country.”

“Presidents of both parties have long relied on their constitutional authority to act when foreign actors pose a direct threat to the safety and security of the United States and its people. President Trump did exactly that.”

The stunning, lightning-fast American military action, which plucked a nation’s sitting leader from office, echoed the U.S. invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and seizure of its leader, Manuel Antonio Noriega, in 1990 — exactly 36 years ago Saturday.

The United Nations said it was “deeply alarmed” by the U.S. strikes and reported detention of Maduro. It expressed concern that the escalation was a violation of international law.

“These developments constitute a dangerous precedent,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said in a statement. Dujarric said the U.N. worried about the larger implications for Latin America and the Caribbean and called on “all actors in Venezuela” to respect human rights and the rule of law.