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Sen. Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that the United States must “ensure that those responsible for the Venezuelan government apparatus will not continue the ways of Nicolas Maduro.”
President Trump “wants to give them a chance to turn the page in Venezuela and help America achieve its political goals there,” Cotton said Sunday on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan“.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were arrested in a nighttime U.S. raid on their home in Caracas after carrying out airstrikes in Venezuela in support of what the administration says was a law enforcement operation aimed at enforcing an indictment accusing him of narcoterrorism. They arrived in the United States on Saturday evening and Maduro was transported to the United States. Metropolitan Detention Centera federal facility in Brooklyn.
Mr. Trump said on Saturday that Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, had been sworn in to replace him. Many members of the Maduro regime with alleged ties to narcoterrorists as well as U.S. adversaries remain in power in Venezuela, and Mr. Trump said on Saturday that opposition leader María Corina Machado “does not have the support or respect within the country” to lead.
In a separate appearance on “Face the Nation,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio was deflected when asked about other indicted members of Maduro’s cabinet who remain in place.
“So you wanted us to land at five more military bases?” Rubio said, adding that Maduro was the “primary target.”
“But we’re not just addressing the regime,” Rubio said. “We are addressing factors that pose a threat to the national interest of the United States.”
Although Rubio — like the Biden administration — recognized Edmundo González as the winner of the 2024 elections, Rubio did not answer whether he thinks González should be the country’s leader. Instead, Rubio said, “This is the mission we’re on right now.”
Cotton reiterated some of his Rubio’s points on what the Trump administration wants to see in the Venezuelan government, which is still made up of Maduro’s allies.
“We want them to stop drug and gun trafficking,” Cotton said. “We want them to drive out the Iranians, the Cubans, the Islamic radicals like Hezbollah and return to being a normal nation that will help build stability, order and prosperity, not only in Venezuela but in our own country.”
Cotton said he believed new elections “should be a goal”, and added that he hoped the existing government would allow the return of political exiles such as Machadowho received the Nobel Peace Prize in October.
“Within a certain amount of time – it probably won’t be days or weeks, but maybe several months – we will be able to hold new elections in Venezuela, free and fair,” Cotton said.
