The Grand Rapids Police Department, headed by Eric Wenstrom, denied the allegations in a statement to Zetio. It said the protesters had “refused to obey lawful orders” to move onto the sidewalk and had “begun blocking intersections,” adding that officials warned participants they could be arrested if later identified. Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand is a Democrat.
The incident comes as Trump, 79, tries to promote Maduro’s policies domestically, despite growing public discontent.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday found that about a third of Americans support U.S. intervention, while 72% fear excessive U.S. involvement.
In the United States, calls for the president’s impeachment are mounting, with some Democratic lawmakers, as well as prominent political figures, demanding immediate action.
Representative April McLean Delaney of Maryland urged congressional Democrats on Monday to “immediately consider impeachment proceedings” against Trump in response to his military intervention in Venezuela.
“This weekend, we saw the president—without authorization or approval from Congress, as required by our Constitution—launch an attack on Venezuela and declare his intention to ‘administer’ the country,” Delaney said, criticizing her Republican colleagues for “allowing Trump to flout the rule of law.”
Delaney urged Congress to act, adding, “It is long past time Congress took responsibility and put an end to the unauthorized and harmful actions of this administration.”
This was the latest serious call for the president’s removal from office, with several Democratic lawmakers describing Trump’s actions in Venezuela as “impeachable.”
Calls for Trump’s impeachment gather momentum
Senator Scott Weiner, the California candidate running against Nancy Pelosi in Congress, called for the removal of Donald Trump for what he described as an “illegal invasion and coup in Venezuela.”
“Trump illegally invaded Venezuela, seized and bombed the Capitol, confiscated the country’s oil resources, and arrested President Maduro and his wife,” Weiner said in a press release issued on January 3.
“Trump has no legal authority to invade Venezuela because he received no authorization from Congress. This illegal act constitutes yet another crime that warrants the removal of this autocratic president,” Weiner added. He also expressed concern that the president’s actions could “encourage China to invade Taiwan and Russia to strengthen its grip on Ukraine.”
Representative Delia C. Ramirez of Illinois called Maduro’s arrest a “kidnapping,” stating that the operation was “illegal” and constituted “grave violations of international and U.S. law.”
“Trump and his administration are out of control because they believe they are above the law. But they are not… Trump must be removed from office,” said Ms. Ramirez, calling for the adoption of the war powers resolution introduced by Representative Ilhan Omar last September.
This resolution, which calls for “the withdrawal of U.S. armed forces from hostilities not authorized by Congress,” was referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee after its introduction and is awaiting a hearing.
Representative Dan Goldman of New York accused Trump of using the same “illegal and unconstitutional tactics” as Maduro in this operation, asserting that this action “not only undermines our democracy and violates our Constitution, but also emboldens dictators around the world.”
Goldman argued, “I believe President Trump’s true motivation is to seize Venezuela’s vast oil resources to do favors for the top executives of the American oil companies that helped him rise to power,” calling the operation a “violation of the United States Constitution” and “grounds for impeachment.”
Representative Maxime Waters of California, co-chair of the Caribbean Caucus in Congress, stated that Trump had no authority “to bypass Congress and launch military strikes against a sovereign nation, while shamelessly admitting that seizing Venezuelan oil is part of his motivation.”
“Many Democrats have rightly questioned the possibility of another impeachment process against the president in the current political context. I am reconsidering that position,” Waters said, referring to previous attempts to impeach Trump during his first term.
In an email to TIME on Monday, the White House defended the Venezuela operation and accused Democrats of taking “twisted stands” in the wake of the military intervention.
“At President Trump’s direction, the Administration lawfully executed a federal arrest warrant against Nicolás Maduro, which was issued by a federal judge for Maduro’s corrupt and criminal actions as a narcoterrorist trafficking illicit narcotics into the United States,” said White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly.
When has Trump previously faced impeachment?
In December 2019, Donald Trump was impeached on two counts following allegations that he used foreign aid to Ukraine to pressure the new Ukrainian government to investigate then-Vice President Joe Biden.
The House of Representatives voted along party lines to impeach the president, sending the case to the Senate. The Senate ultimately acquitted Donald Trump in February 2020.
A year later, the president was impeached for the second time in a historic vote in the House of Representatives. He was accused of inciting violent protesters to storm the Capitol during the January 6th riots. The Senate acquitted Trump again, failing to secure the 67 votes required; only 57 senators voted to remove him from office.