John Yoo

In Civitas Outlook, my latest piece compares Trump and Jeffersonian foreign policy:

"A President orders American forces to attack a hostile foreign regime without prior congressional authorization. He authorizes covert action to overthrow the regime’s ruler. He funds these operations in secret and notifies Congress only after the mission succeeds. When the smoke clears, Congress does not challenge the intervention either by cutting off funds, passing a statute, or impeaching the President. This scenario describes the Trump administration’s ongoing conflict with Venezuela. The United States is fighting a war in all but name against the regime in Caracas. The United States has imposed a blockade on Venezuela’s oil exports, closed its airspace, sunk alleged drug-running boats leaving its ports, and, of course, launched a snatch-and-grab operation of its head of state, Nicolas Maduro. Not only did the American armed forces capture Maduro and return him to the United States for trial, but it also destroyed Venezuela’s air defenses and killed the security detail guarding him. The Trump administration is now engaged in a slow campaign of regime change that has it negotiating with Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodriguez, but also hosting the leader of the opposition, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado.

But this scenario also describes President Thomas Jefferson’s campaign against the Barbary States."

Trump's Jeffersonian Foreign Policy | John Yoo The Constitution creates a presidency that can respond forcefully to prevent serious threats to our national security.

The Trump National Security Strategy is Good, Bad, and Ugly All at Once | John Yoo Like the classic Clint Eastwood western, the Trump Administration should have titled its National Security Strategy: “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”