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Nearly six years ago, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., delivered a Senate floor speech attacking President Donald Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address, criticizing the administration’s Venezuela policy and arguing that dictator Nicolás Maduro remained firmly in power.
That criticism has resurfaced following the arrest of Maduro on sweeping U.S. narcotics charges under Trump’s second administration, with Schumer now warning that Maduro’s removal could trigger what he called an “endless war” in Venezuela, Fox News reported.
Schumer’s remarks in 2020 came one day after Trump told Congress that Maduro’s dictatorship would be “smashed and broken,” language the New York Democrat dismissed as empty rhetoric.
“Maybe his best metaphor was his claim to bring democracy to Venezuela,” Schumer said at the time. “There’s a big policy there. It flopped.”
“The president brags about his Venezuela policy? Give us a break,” Schumer continued. “He hasn’t brought an end to the Maduro regime.”
“The Maduro regime is more powerful today and more entrenched today than it was when the president began his anti-Maduro,” he added. “Same thing with North Korea, same thing with China, same thing with Russia. Same thing with Syria.”
Trump invited Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó to attend the 2020 State of the Union address, identifying him as Venezuela’s “legitimate” leader after the opposition-controlled National Assembly declared Maduro’s 2018 reelection illegitimate.
“The United States is leading a 59-nation diplomatic coalition against the socialist dictator of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro,” Trump said during the speech. “Maduro is an illegitimate ruler, a tyrant who brutalizes his people.”
“But Maduro’s grip on tyranny will be smashed and broken,” Trump added while pointing to Guaidó in the House chamber.
Schumer argued the following day that Guaidó’s presence in Washington rather than Caracas demonstrated the failure of Trump’s foreign policy.
Trump confirmed Saturday that U.S. forces carried out a successful military operation inside Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
The pair was transported to the United States and charged in New York with narco terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Maduro and other senior regime officials were originally indicted in 2020 under Trump’s first administration for allegedly operating a large scale narco terrorism and drug trafficking operation.
Maduro denied the charges at the time and remained in power, with prosecutors expanding the indictment in 2026.
Maduro and Flores made their first court appearance on Monday.
News of the operation spread rapidly on Saturday, prompting backlash from Democratic lawmakers who objected to the administration carrying out the operation without notifying Congress.
Schumer accused the administration of violating international law and risking an open-ended conflict.
“Maduro is a horrible, horrible person, but you don’t treat lawlessness with other lawlessness,” Schumer said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“They went inside Venezuela, bombed civilian as well as military places, and it’s a violation of the law to do what they did without getting the authorization of Congress,” he added.
“The American people are worried that this is creating an endless war,” Schumer said. “The very thing that Donald Trump campaigned against over and over again was no more endless wars.”
Fox News Digital contacted Schumer’s office and the White House regarding his 2020 remarks, but did not immediately receive a response.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly dismissed Schumer’s criticism, accusing him of reversing his position for political reasons.
“Chuck Schumer’s Trump Derangement Syndrome is so overpowering that he will flip-flop on anything to attack President Trump,” Kelly said. “Even bringing narcoterrorist Nicolás Maduro to justice.”
