Marco Rubio was visibly irritated to be reminded that despite the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro, the dictator’s regime is still in power in Venezuela.
“I’m curious why the Trump administration decided to leave [Maduro’s regime] intact and only arrest Nicolás Maduro and his wife,” host Margaret Brennan questioned on Face the Nation Sunday, pointing out others in Maduro’s government who were indicted in the U.S.
“I’m confused. Are they still wanted by the United States? Why didn’t you arrest them if you are taking out the narcoterrorist regime?” she asked.
“You’re confused? I don’t know why that is confusing to you,” Rubio responded, with Brennan repeating: “They are still in power.”
The secretary of state lashed out at the CBS News host, saying that there was already enough “complaining” about the capture of just one Venezuelan politician—and that the military operation was difficult enough as it was.
“You’re going to go in and suck up five people? They are already complaining about this one operation. Imagine the howls we would have from everybody else if we actually had to go and stay there four days to capture four other people,” Rubio said.
“We got the top priority. The number one person on the list was the guy who claimed to be the president of the country that he was not, and he was arrested along with his wife who is also indicted. That was a sophisticated, and frankly complicated operation.”
As Brennan agreed with the complexity of the raid, Rubio continued: “It is not easy to land helicopters in the middle of the largest military base in the country. The guy lived on a military base. Land within three minutes, kick down his door, grab him, put him in handcuffs, read him his rights, and leave the country without losing any American or any American assets.
“That’s not an easy mission. You’re asking me why didn’t we do that in five other places at the same time? I mean, that’s absurd.”
Rubio persisted in fawning over the operation, adding: “I do think it’s one of the most, you know, daring, complicated, sophisticated missions this country has carried out in a very long time. Tremendous credit to the U.S. military personnel who did it. It was unbelievable, and a tremendous success.
“And today, an indicted drug trafficker—who was not the legitimate president of Venezuela, who we do not recognize, the Biden administration didn’t recognize, sixty-something countries don’t recognize, the European Union doesn’t recognize, and many countries in Latin America don’t recognize—he was an indicted drug trafficker. He was arrested, his wife was arrested—"
Brennan interjected and once again asked about the co-conspirators left behind. “Right, but the others who were also indicted are still in place, so that is the point of my questioning there. You talked about not being the legitimate president—"
Rubio interrupted in turn, accusing: “So you wanted us to land in five other military bases?”
“No, I’m asking why you chose that this was the limit of the military operation. To your point that you just made that Maduro was not the legitimate president,” Brennan responded.
“He was claiming to be the president,” said Rubio, speaking over Brennan again to specify: “He was the top target.”
