Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied concerns the Trump administration is legitimizing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro after a government official traveled to Caracas in late January.
Fox News host Brian Kilmeade asked Rubio on his radio show Wednesday about U.S. envoy for special missions Ric Grenell’s trip to the country and his meeting with the dictator that resulted in six Americans returning home.
The Maduro regime also agreed to take back Venezuelans, including Tren de Aragua gang members who illegally entered the United States.
Rubio explained that Venezuela has an obligation under international law to accept foreign nationals who are unlawfully and illegally in another country.
NEARLY 200 VENEZUELAN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS DETAINED AT GUANTANAMO BAY ARE FLOWN BACK HOME
“Remember, Venezuela stopped taking migration flights, deportations because they wanted to blackmail Joe Biden. Donald Trump’s not going to be blackmailed. President Trump will not be blackmailed by them,” he said on “The Brian Kilmeade Show.”
The United States government does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader after a contested 2024 election saw the longtime president receive a third, six-year term.
President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro delivers the annual address at Teatro Teresa Carreno on January 15, 2025 in Caracas, Venezuela. ((Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images))
Former State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said last year there were “serious concerns” about the election and the result “does not reflect the will and the votes of the Venezuelan people.”
Rubio echoed Patel’s sentiments, saying he still believes Maduro is a “horrible dictator.”
“He is allowing Iran to operate out of Venezuela. He’s allowing the Chinese to operate out of Venezuela. He’s threatening his neighbors in the region. He has flooded us with gang members, flooded us with these Tren de Aragua gang members that are in this country doing terrible things,” he said.
LISTEN TO SECRETARY OF STATE RUBIO’S INTERVIEW ON ‘THE BRIAN KILMEADE SHOW’:
“Why would we want someone like that to be there? We’re not going to discuss publicly what our work is going to be in that regard. But he remains the same threat today that he was two years ago, three years ago, four years ago. That’s going to have to be dealt with.”
Mugshots of suspected members of the violent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang appear over a blurred image of an arrest of an alleged gang member in Denver.
President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform Wednesday afternoon that the United States was ending Chevron’s Venezuela oil license that was largely seen as a monetary lifeline to the regime.
“We are hereby reversing the concessions that Crooked Joe Biden gave to Nicolás Maduro, of Venezuela, on the oil transaction agreement, dated November 26, 2022, and also having to do with Electoral conditions within Venezuela, which have not been met by the Maduro regime,” the commander-in-chief wrote.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Additionally, the regime has not been transporting the violent criminals that they sent into our Country (the Good Ole’ U.S.A.) back to Venezuela at the rapid pace that they had agreed to.”
