Secretary of State Marco Rubio sharply criticized Kamala Harris and other Democrats over their condemnation of the arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, arguing that their outrage ignores years of inaction by prior administrations.
Rubio and other supporters of the operation noted that the Biden administration itself had publicly placed a multimillion-dollar bounty on Maduro, yet never moved to apprehend him. According to Rubio, the reward amounted to little more than symbolism, with no serious enforcement effort to back it up.
Maduro had been under indictment since 2020 on charges that included narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. Despite the severity of those allegations, Rubio said the United States stopped short of taking decisive action, opting instead to advertise a cash reward without following through.
“In the Biden administration, they had a $25 million reward for [Maduro’s] capture,” Rubio told NBC News’ Kristen Welker on Sunday.
“So, we have a reward for his capture, but we’re not going to enforce it?” the secretary asked, incredulously.
“That’s the difference between President Trump and everybody else … President Trump did something about it.”
The comments came after a dramatic overnight U.S. military operation, known as Operation Absolute Reserve, which resulted in the capture of the Venezuelan leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, 69. The pair were seized near the heavily guarded Fuerte Tiuna military complex, a key stronghold in Caracas.
President Trump said American forces penetrated the compound’s defenses “in a matter of seconds,” underscoring the speed and precision of the mission.
As news of the arrest spread, Kamala Harris, the failed 2024 presidential candidate, posted a swift rebuke on social media.
“That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise,” she wrote on X.
“We’ve seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”
Harris went on to claim the operation was not truly about removing Maduro from power, but instead driven by “oil” and “Donald Trump’s desire to play the regional strongman.”
Appearing across multiple Sunday news shows, Rubio rejected the oil argument outright, saying the United States has no need for Venezuelan crude. He said the real concern is preventing the country’s vast energy reserves from falling into the hands of hostile powers aligned against the U.S.
The arrest also revived old statements from Joe Biden that resurfaced online in the aftermath of the operation. In a 2020 post on X, then-Twitter, Biden accused President Trump of sympathizing with the Venezuelan ruler.
“Trump talks tough on Venezuela, but admires thugs and dictators like Nicolas Maduro. As President, I will stand with the Venezuelan people and for democracy,” Biden wrote at the time — a message critics now described as having aged poorly.
Democratic divisions over Venezuela were also on display in Congress.
Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union,” where he denounced what he called an “invasion” of Venezuela and accused President Trump of launching an “illegal war.”
“Listen, Venezuela is not a security threat to the United States. They’re not threatening to invade us. There is no terrorist group like al Qaeda operating there that has plans to attack the United States,” Murphy told host Dana Bash.
Bash then confronted the senator with his own words from a 2019 Washington Post op-ed, in which he wrote, “Let’s get one thing straight: There should no longer be any debate about Maduro’s lack of democratic legitimacy … The Trump administration is right to put restoring Venezuelan democracy at the center of our approach to this crisis.”
Murphy responded with a chuckle, saying the remainder of his article criticized President Trump’s “early moves to saber-rattle about regime change.”
According to U.S. officials, roughly 150 aircraft were involved in the operation, which included precision strikes around Caracas. Targets reportedly included Generalissimo Francisco de Miranda Air Base, Port La Guaira, Higuerote Airport, and Fuerte Tiuna itself.
The entire mission lasted just under two and a half hours. President Trump said no American troops were killed. Venezuelan officials, however, claimed at least 40 people — including both soldiers and civilians — died during the operation, according to the New York Times.
Several U.S. personnel were wounded, though officials said all are expected to recover.
Maduro, 63, and Flores were flown to the United States and are now being held at the Brooklyn Detention Center, where they await federal narco-terrorism charges.
Maduro first assumed power in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chavez and later declared victory in the country’s 2018 presidential election. In 2019, Venezuela’s National Assembly declared that he had seized the presidency illegitimately and was not the lawful leader of the nation.
He again claimed victory in a fiercely disputed presidential election in July 2024. That outcome was rejected by the United States and numerous other countries, which refused to recognize him as Venezuela’s legitimate ruler.
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