A new classified legal opinion produced by the Justice Department argues that President Donald Trump was not limited by domestic law when approving the US operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro because of his constitutional authority as commander-in-chief and that he is not constrained by international law when it comes to carrying out law enforcement operations overseas,

The heavily redacted version of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel opinion, released this week, sheds new light on how the administration came to conclude that it was legally permitted to oust Maduro as Venezuela’s president in a stunning middle-of-the-night military operation Jan. 3.

The Office of Legal Counsel also invoked a claim about Venezuela’s “Cartel de los Soles” that department prosecutors have abandoned.

The legal theories the administration has floated to defend its actions draw on a historical source the president once disavowed.

Big Law remains silent, but some at smaller firms are raising their voices. "I am concerned about a government where one person is an authoritarian figure and Congress is silent and the courts are marginalized or threatened with impeachment when they rule ...

The specifics of the memo are unclear. But Attorney General Pam Bondi told lawmakers in briefings this week that the administration would share the document with them.