Patriot Brief
What Happened: Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back after NBC News questioned why Congress was not consulted before a U.S. operation captured Nicolás Maduro.
Why It Matters: The exchange highlights growing media backlash to Trump’s aggressive foreign policy and disputes over executive authority.
Bottom Line: The administration says the Venezuela mission was lawful, limited, and successful, regardless of media outrage.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was not interested in playing along with what many viewers saw as a familiar media script on Sunday.
During an appearance on Meet the Press, Rubio pushed back hard after NBC host Kristen Welker pressed him on why the Trump administration did not seek congressional approval before launching a surprise operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Welker cited comments from White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who told Vanity Fair that an attack on Venezuela’s mainland would require congressional approval.
Rubio rejected the premise outright.
“This was not an action that required congressional approval,” Rubio said. “In fact, it couldn’t require congressional approval because this was not an invasion. This is not an extended military operation. This is a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action.”
Rubio emphasized the narrow scope of “Operation Absolute Resolve,” warning that advance notice to Congress could have put American lives at risk.
“You couldn’t afford leaks. We couldn’t afford anything out there that would have endangered the mission and gotten people killed, or killed off the mission in the optionality,” he said. “We didn’t even know if the mission was going to happen. How can you notify something you’re not even sure if it can happen? Because in order for it to happen, you had needed to have weather conditions in place.”
Pressed on future actions, Rubio said Congress will be informed when legally required, adding that similar operations have been conducted by nearly every president for decades.
“The difference is that when it’s Donald Trump, you know, all these Democrats go bonkers,” Rubio said.
President Donald Trump has made clear the United States intends to temporarily oversee Venezuela’s transition following Maduro’s capture.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said Saturday.
The message from the administration was unmistakable. The mission was legal. It was successful. And the media outrage was predictable.
