'Unacceptable': Top GOP senator slams Trump for excluding him from Venezuela briefing

One high-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate is directly calling out President Donald Trump's administration for not including him in a classified briefing about the recent military operation that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio reported Monday that Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) — who serve as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, respectively — issued a joint statement sharply criticizing the administration for excluding them from the briefing. The senators noted that the administration described Maduro's capture as a "law enforcement mission," meaning the operation would fall under their committee's purview.

"President Trump and [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio have stated that this was a law enforcement operation that was made at the Department of Justice's (DOJ) request, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)," the statement read. "The Senate Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over DOJ, FBI and DEA, and all three agencies are led by individuals who our Committee vetted and processed. The Attorney General herself will be present at today's briefing."

"There is no legitimate basis for excluding the Senate Judiciary Committee from this briefing," Grassley and Durbin continued. "The administration's refusal to acknowledge our Committee's indisputable jurisdiction in this matter is unacceptable and we are following up to ensure the Committee receives warranted information regarding Maduro's arrest."

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were indicted on federal charges filed in the Southern District of New York. The Venezuelan leader and his wife have pleaded not guilty to charges of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy and weapons charges. Maduro insisted he was a "prisionero de guerra (prisoner of war)" in a court hearing on Monday.

The two are currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York. The facility has also housed high-profile federal defendants like rapper and producer Diddy, former pharmaceutical company CEO Martin Shkreli, Mexican drug lord El Chapo and longtime Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.