Little Marco defends Trump on Venezuela while trying to allay fears about Greenland and NATO
WASHINGTON (AP) Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a full-throated defense Wednesday of President Donald Trumps military operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, while explaining to U.S. lawmakers the administrations approach to Greenland, NATO, Iran and China.
As Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee offered starkly different readings of the administrations foreign policy, Rubio addressed Trumps intentions and his often bellicose rhetoric that has alarmed U.S. allies in Europe and elsewhere, including demands to take over Greenland.
In the first public hearing since the Jan. 3 raid to depose Maduro, Rubio said Trump had acted to take out a major U.S. national security threat in the Western Hemisphere. Trumps top diplomat said America was safer and more secure as a result and that the administration would work with interim authorities to stabilize the South American country.
Were not going to have this thing turn around overnight, but I think were making good and decent progress, Rubio said. We are certainly better off today in Venezuela than we were four weeks ago, and I think and hope and expect that well be better off in three months and six months and nine months than we would have been had Maduro still been there.
https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-trump-rubio-congress-maduro-rodriguez-e157b5d08a39047df4ac46764900ae77