Videos: Rubio takes down reporters' criticism of Trump admin's Venezuela operation

Secretary of State Marco Rubio clashed with two different reporters over the weekend after they questioned President Donald Trump’s administration’s plan for Venezuela in the aftermath of the operation that led to the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. 

During a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” NBC host Kristen Welker asked Rubio why the United States needs to “take over the Venezuelan oil industry” if the Trump administration’s operation was to capture the Venezuelan dictator and “bring him to justice.” 

“Well, we don’t need to. First of all, let me back up. We don’t need Venezuela’s oil. We have plenty of oil in the United States,” Rubio said. “What we’re not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States.”

Rubio pointed to China, Russia, and Iran’s dependence on Venezuela’s oil and warned that the Trump administration is not going to “allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States.”

As Welker attempted to interrupt Rubio, the secretary of state added, “We also want to see that oil and the proceeds from it – hold on. We want to see the oil proceeds of that country benefit the people of Venezuela.”

Rubio explained that 8 million people have left Venezuela since 2014, which has led to significant destabilization in the region. 

“It’s not going to continue to happen,” Rubio stated. “They are not going to come from outside of our hemisphere, destabilize our region in our own backyard, and us have to pay the price for it. Not under President Trump.” 

Rubio also clashed with ABC host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday after the ABC host repeatedly asked the secretary of state about the Trump administration’s “legal authority” to run Venezuela following Maduro’s capture.

Rubio told Stephanopoulos that the United States has a “quarantine” on Venezuela’s oil and that the Venezuelan economy will “not be able to move forward” until the country meets certain conditions that are in the “national interest of the United States.” He explained that the Trump administration plans to “use the leverage we have” to push for change that benefits both the United States and the people of Venezuela.

In response to Rubio’s explanation, Stephanopoulos said, “Let me ask the question again. What is the legal authority for the United States to be running Venezuela?”

“Well, I explained to you what our goals are and how we’re going to use the leverage to make it happen,” Rubio replied. “As far as what our legal authority is on the quarantine, very simple. We have court orders. These are sanctioned boats and we get orders from courts to go after and seize these sanctions. So, I don’t know, is a court not a legal authority?”