Leaders on the Senate Intel committee are expecting to receive a bipartisan briefing this week about the deadly U.S. strike on a drug vessel off the shore of Venezuela.

• Why it matters: Lawmakers want more information from the White House on what Trump officials have indicated is just the start of a broader military campaign.

🔦 Democrats were left in the dark on the operation, multiple sources tell us, and they want answers on the legal basis for the strike.

• Their leaders raised similar concerns following Trump's airstrikes on Iran in June.
• U.S. officials said the attack on the ship — which killed 11 members of the Tren de Aragua cartel, according to Trump — targeted drug trafficking. But it's threaded with the hopes of regime change in Venezuela.

The big picture: Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a member of the Senate Intel panel, told us that stopping drugs from reaching U.S. soil is a "positive thing" but said he has not been officially briefed on the operation.

• "Donald Trump will be gone at some point, and we should not put our service members in a position that they're doing things that are outside of legal boundaries," Kelly said.
• Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also told us he received no briefing, background or information about the strike: "That is concerning."

The other side: Sen. James Risch (R-Idaho) told us that as a senior member of the Intel committee, he has been briefed on the strike.

• Risch declined to provide any details on what that briefing looked like or when it took place, given the classification of such communications.
• Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who spent time in South America last month and has family in Colombia, cheered on the strike. "They were bringing drugs that were going to kill Americans, so we killed them first," he said. "We're going to be doing a lot more of that."
• Moreno said he didn't think Congress needs to be notified ahead of such strikes.

Zoom out: Trump announced the stunning strike on Tuesday in his militarized war on drugs.

• The U.S. has been amassing ships off Venezuela's shores and escalating tensions between the U.S. and the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
• The administration has labeled Maduro the leader of a drug-trafficking terrorist cartel.

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— Stephen Neukam and Stef Kight

Some older House Democrats are telling the younger voters who want them to retire to pound sand.

Why it matters: The intraparty generational fight has convinced some older members to step aside instead of fighting back primary challengers. But others argue that members' fitness for office should be judged on a case-by-case basis.

• "Some of the seniors around here are different than some other seniors," said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), 80, who indicated he plans to seek reelection even if Missouri Republicans redraw his district.

Zoom in: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) pointed today to his ascension to leadership and the ousters of several older committee ranking members as evidence of generational change happening within his caucus.

• Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her deputies "decided not to seek reelection to their leadership positions voluntarily," Jeffries said. "That's what's called embracing generational change."
• Jeffries has taken a delicate touch with older members who are being pressured to step aside, as we told you yesterday.

But some of his members who have faced considerable scrutiny this term are defiantly saying they're running again.

• Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), 88, told us today that "of course" she is running for reelection despite mounting concerns about her fitness for office (and her office didn't walk it back this time).
• Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), 77, who has multiple credible primary challengers after suffering a complex partial seizure on the House floor in February, said he plans to launch his reelection bid soon.
• Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), 80, told us he is still planning to run for reelection despite facing a half dozen primary opponents and persistent concerns about his health.

The bottom line: "Older Democratic leaders can cement their legacies and help usher in a new generation of leadership," said David Hogg, who is working to unseat older, more established Democratic incumbents.

• "If some members of Congress want to spend their twilight years running the most brutal campaign of their careers, so be it."

— Andrew Soldender

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is defying Speaker Mike Johnson's warnings and pressing forward with his discharge petition to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein records, even as some of his initial Republican backers are fading away.

Why it matters: Just days ago, the discharge petition's success almost looked inevitable.

• But Republican leadership, White House pressure and the release of Epstein-related files from the House Oversight Committee have blunted the petition's momentum.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune also threw cold water on the efforts, telling reporters today there are no plans for the Senate to vote on the legislation.

Zoom in: Several Republicans who had backed Massie's underlying bill have reversed course, saying the Oversight panel's release of Epstein files undercuts the need for a petition.

• Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) told us yesterday she doesn't plan on signing it, calling the fight "a personal rift between Massie and the president."
• Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who also won't be signing the petition, dismissed Massie's efforts as "a backhanded slap to the president."
• Reps. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) also signaled they won't be supporting the measure. They were both cosponsors of the underlying bill.

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— Kate Santaliz