Democratic Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), a prominent member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is facing intense online criticism following his condemnation of the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026.
Critics, primarily conservative users on X, have accused Murphy of hypocrisy by resurfacing a 2019 statement in which he appeared to support the strategic benefits of removing Maduro from power.
In a post on January 4, 2026, Murphy sharply criticized the operation:
“The invasion of Venezuela has nothing to do with American security. Venezuela is not a security threat to the U.S.. This is about making Trump’s oil industry and Wall Street friends rich. Trump’s foreign policy – the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela – is fundamentally corrupt.”
— Sen. Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT), January 4, 2026
The post included a clip from Murphy’s appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, where he elaborated on his position:
“Venezuela is not a security threat to the United States. They’re not threatening to invade us. There’s no terrorist group like Al-Qaeda operating there that has plans to attack the United States. To the extent that you care about the drug trade—yes, they produce drugs, but those drugs go to Europe. Fentanyl is the drug that’s killing Americans—that’s not coming from Venezuela… This seems to be mostly about oil… The invasion of Venezuela is about making his crowd filthy rich.”
— Sen. Chris Murphy on CNN, January 2026
The backlash centers on a tweet Murphy posted on January 24, 2019, during the height of Venezuela’s political crisis when opposition leader Juan Guaidó challenged Maduro’s legitimacy:
“If Trump cared about consistency, he would make the realist case for intervention in Venezuela (getting rid of Maduro is good for the United States) rather than trying to pretend his Administration all of the sudden cares about toppling anti-democratic regimes.”
— Sen. Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT), January 24, 2019
Thousands of replies to Murphy’s 2026 post feature “This you?” memes juxtaposing the two statements, accusing the senator of reversing his position now that a Republican administration has taken direct action against Maduro.
As of January 6, 2026, the post has garnered over 2 million views and remains a focal point of partisan debate over U.S. foreign policy toward Venezuela.
Murphy’s office has not yet responded to requests for comment on the resurfaced 2019 statement.
