Rubio loses his cool when faced with a major flaw in Venezuela’s strike

Marco Rubio was angered by the reminder that the dictator’s regime is still in power in Venezuela despite the fall of former President Nicolás Maduro.

“I’m curious why the Trump administration decided to leave [Maduro’s regime] Intact and just arrest Nicolás Maduro and his wife,” host Margaret Brennan asked Face the nation Sunday, pointing to other people in Maduro’s government who were indicted in the US

“I’m confused. Are they still wanted by the United States? Why didn’t you arrest them if you took down the narcotics reign of terror?” she asked.

“You’re confused? I don’t know why it’s confusing to you,” Rubio responded, with Brennan repeating: “They’re still in power.”

The secretary of state lashed out at the CBS News host, saying there had already been enough “complaints” about the capture of a Venezuelan politician — and as difficult as a military operation.

“You’re going in and pinching five people? They’re already complaining about this one operation. Imagine what we’d get from everybody else if we had to go in there and stay four days to actually catch four people,” Rubio said.

“We got a high priority. The number one person on the list was a man who claimed to be the president of a country he wasn’t, and he was arrested along with his wife who was also indicted. It was a sophisticated and obviously complex operation.”

After Brennan agreed with the complexity of the attack, Rubio continued: “It’s not easy to land a helicopter in the middle of the largest military base in the country. That guy lived on a military base. Land within three minutes, kick in his door, arrest him, handcuff him, read him his rights, and leave the country without losing any Americans or any Americans.”

“It’s not an easy mission. You ask me why we didn’t do it in five other places at the same time? I mean, it’s absurd.”

Rubio continued to fan about the operation, adding: “I think it’s one of the most, you know, bold, complex, sophisticated missions that this country has done in a very long time. Big credit to the U.S. military personnel that did it. It was incredible, and a huge success.”

“And today, an accused drug trafficker — who was not the legitimate president of Venezuela, who we don’t recognize, the Biden administration doesn’t recognize, 60 countries don’t recognize, the European Union doesn’t recognize, and many countries in Latin America don’t recognize — he was an accused drug trafficker. He was arrested, his wife was arrested —”

Brennan intervened and once again asked about the co-conspirators who had been left behind. “Okay, but whoever else was indicted is in place, so that’s the point of my question. You talked about not being a legitimate president—”

Rubio interrupted in turn, charging: “So you want us to land on five other military bases?”

“No, I’m asking why you chose this as the limit of military operations. You just said that Maduro is not the legitimate president,” Brennan replied.

“He was claiming to be the president,” Rubio said, speaking to Brennan again to specify: “He was the top target.”