Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner told ABC’s “This Week” that Congress is very concerned with the president’s actions related to pressuring the Venezeulan government:

MARTHA RADDATZ: So, Congressman, we’ve got this enormous economic pressure now. We’ve got military pressure, 15,000 U.S. forces in the region. So, what do you think the president is going to do next? You’ve heard what he says he’s going to do next, that he’s going to hit the land, he’s going to hit what he called horrible people. He might even go beyond that. Are you comfortable with that? What do you think will happen? REP. MIKE TURNER: Well, the president has not been clear, and he is not certainly been communicating with Congress. And I think he has been certainly escalating both the rhetoric and certainly the presence in the area, putting pressure on the Maduro regime. The — and as Senator Warner has said, certainly Maduro is a bad guy. And through the last administration, this has been left over to this administration. Both the people in Venezuela have been subject to really the criminal nature of that regime. This is, I think, an appropriate focus for the administration. I think that the administration, though, does need to make the cases Senator Warner was even saying, to Congress. I think the administration though is being slow to tell Congress because they don’t want to tell everybody what they’re doing. They don’t want to show their hands, as they’re increasing this pressure. I think taking the skipper certainly shows the economic pressure, as you were just describing, that gives, I think, Maduro the pause to see that the administration’s not stopping, both as they have this military presence, but also economic pressure that’s going to put this regime certainly in a very compromised position. RADDATZ: And Congressman, do you believe the videotape of that second strike should be released to the public? TURNER: Well, I have not seen it yet. We’re going to be seeing it next week. I do believe that Congress has done very significant oversight. The joint chief — the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs both met with the leadership of the House and the Senate, the Intelligence Committee, the Armed Services Committee, all received briefings both from Admiral Bradley and the chairman, and the Secretary of Defense has spoken to them. They’ve all seen the video. Now, the Full Armed Services Committee is going to be seeing the video. You’ve just heard the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee say that he himself has not concluded that it was an illegal act. So, and we all know that The Washington Post article has proven not to be accurate. So I think this oversight investigation is going to proceed. And as such, we’re going to certainly get to the bottom of both what occurred, what acts did occur, and as that investigation goes forward, Congress will have more information to be able to understand what occurred and how do we proceed next. RADDATZ: And Congressman, quickly, if you can, we just have about 20 seconds, but these strikes, and this war on drugs comes as the president pardoned the former president of Honduras serving a 45-year sentence for his involvement in one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies. Your reaction to that? What message are Americans supposed to take from that? TURNER: Well, there is very grave concern in Congress about these strikes in general, and you just hit, you know, exactly why, because of the contrast. These individuals are not being subject to criminal prosecution. And if they were subject to criminal prosecution, there’s no capital punishment — RADDATZ: But I want you to comment on the pardon. TURNER: Right. Well, on the pardon itself, here’s an individual who was subject to criminal prosecution and then released. These individuals, even if they were subject to criminal prosecution, there’s no capital punishment for drug trafficking. These individuals, because they’re being subject to military actions, are being put to death. They can’t be subject later to another administration being — RADDATZ: Should the former president of Honduras have been released? TURNER: I certainly have very serious concerns about his pardon. But I do think what is important here is the contrast that you’re making. And that is that these individuals do not have an ability later to be subject to another administration reviewing their issues and being subject to a pardon.

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