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Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the U.S. operation in Venezuela on Sunday as NBC News host Kristen Welker pressed him on why the administration didn’t seek congressional approval.
“White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair that an attack on Venezuela’s mainland would require approval from Congress,” Welker told Rubio on “Meet the Press.” “Why didn’t that happen? And will it happen with any future action the administration plans to take in Venezuela or elsewhere?”
The U.S. carried out a strike in Venezuela on Saturday and captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife as part of “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
“This was not an action that required congressional approval,” Rubio responded. “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. It was a very delicate operation, too. It was one that required all these conditions to be in place at the right time, in the right place.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press, alongside White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, following U.S. military actions in Venezuela, in Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 3, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
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Rubio also said they couldn’t afford any potential leaks.
“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. 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,” he added.
Welker pressed Rubio on whether the administration planned to work with Congress.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Department on June 27, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
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“Well, we will seek congressional approval for actions that require congressional approval, but otherwise they will get congressional notification,” Rubio told Welker. “And this is not an operation that requires congressional approval. In fact, this is an operation akin to what virtually every single president for the last 40 years has conducted. The difference is that when it’s Donald Trump, you know, all these Democrats go bonkers.”
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States is “going to run the country” in Venezuela until what he described as a “safe, proper and judicious transition” can take place.
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Trump framed the role as temporary but necessary, saying the U.S. does not want to allow “somebody else get in” before conditions are stable. He said the goal is peace, liberty and justice for Venezuelans, including those who have fled to the United States and hope to return home.
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said.
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