In part, Senator Cotton said:
“It’s important to remember that Maduro is not just an illegitimate dictator, he's indicted in US courts for drug trafficking and narcoterrorism and now he's going to face justice, and parents across the state of Arkansas this morning are glad that their children are no longer endangered by that drug trafficker. The question that the interim government in Venezuela faces is whether they want to continue down the path that Maduro took them, trafficking drugs, colluding with adversaries like Cuba and Iran, or whether they want to come in from the cold and become a normal nation, rejoin the civilized world and work with the United States to build more prosperity and stability in the Western Hemisphere. That's really the ultimate question that matters most to America. Regardless who it is that ultimately emerges in the next few days, weeks, and months to govern Venezuela, we want them to be a government that works with us to build stability and prosperity in our backyard.”
Anchor: Senator Tom Cotton, the Senate Intelligence Committee Chair. He's also on the Armed Services Committee. Senator, thank you for taking time. You probably just heard much of our interview with President Trump. And into Nicole's question about sort of what happens next in Venezuela, your reaction to this operation and your answer to that question.
Senator Cotton: Well, thanks for having me on. I did hear your interview with President Trump. First, let me join the President in commending our brave and exceptionally skilled troops. He said, "There's no military in the world that could do what we just did." Flew into another nation's territory and executed an arrest on their illegitimate dictator and his wife. It’s important to remember that Maduro is not just an illegitimate dictator, he's indicted in US courts for drug trafficking and narcoterrorism and now he's going to face justice, and parents across the state of Arkansas this morning are glad that their children are no longer endangered by that drug trafficker. The question that the interim government in Venezuela faces is whether they want to continue down the path that Maduro took them, trafficking drugs, colluding with adversaries like Cuba and Iran, or whether they want to come in from the cold and become a normal nation, rejoin the civilized world and work with the United States to build more prosperity and stability in the Western Hemisphere. That's really the ultimate question that matters most to America. Regardless who it is that ultimately emerges in the next few days, weeks, and months to govern Venezuela, we want them to be a government that works with us to build stability and prosperity in our backyard.
Anchor: You mentioned how daring that operation was. President Trump told us that he had initially planned this operation for 4 days ago New Year's Eve in fact. Let’s play that clip and I would like to get your reaction.
President Trump Clip: So, we were going to do this four days ago, but the weather was not perfect. The weather has to be perfect and we had just the perfect weather. We had, you know, very good a little bit of a little bit few more clouds than we thought, but it was good. We waited four days. We were going to do this 4 days ago, 3 days ago, two days ago, and then all of a sudden it opened up and we said go. And I'll tell you, it was just amazing. And what was he doing? He was in a very highly guarded like a fortress. Actually, he was in a fortress, you know, that we had nobody killed was amazing. I think we had nobody killed. I have to say because a couple of guys were hit, but they came back and they're supposed to be in pretty good shape, but that we had nobody killed, that we lost no aircraft, you know, everything came back. We got it all back. One of them was hit pretty hard, but a helicopter, but we got it back. But it just was the right time to do it. We had to do it because it's a war. We're losing 300,000 people a year. We don't lose that much in a war, okay? if you look and we had to do it. But he was in a house that was more like a fortress than a house. It had steel doors. It had what they call a safety space where it's, you know, solid steel all around. He didn't get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bumrushed so fast that he didn't get into that. We were prepared. We had, you know, massive blowtorches and everything else that you need to get through that steel, but we didn't need it. He didn't he didn't make it to that area of the house.
Anchor: It's important to remember, Senator Cotton, there's nothing guaranteed about this moment that we're in right now.
Senator Cotton: No, there's not. I mean this operation was executed almost flawlessly. I spoke with Secretary Rubio this morning. He did share that we did have wounded personnel, but no killed, but that's never guaranteed in advance. You never know how a mission is going to be carried out. So, I really commend President Trump for having the nerve to go forward with this and the operational security surrounding the mission for days when they were waiting for good weather and it didn't leak out and didn't therefore ruin the mission. And as the president said, if you're a drug trafficker and you're indicted in US courts especially, the United States is going to come after you and we're going to arrest you and we're going to bring you to justice. And that's whether you're in the streets of the United States or whether you're in a fortified compound in Venezuela. This is a US indicted drug trafficker. Such people will never have safe haven no matter where they are or what they call themselves. So, kudos to President Trump for making a very brave decision and to our troops for carrying out that decision.
Anchor: You said you spoke with Secretary Rubio this morning. Can I ask you, Senator, was Congress or any of the committees notified in advanced notice of this operation?
Senator Cotton: Not in advance, and that's probably one reason why it didn't leak over these four days as they are waiting for the right weather. But let me let me just make an analogy here again, Congress isn't notified when the FBI is going to arrest a drug trafficker or a cybercriminal here in the United States, nor should Congress be notified when the executive branch is executing arrests on indicted persons, and that's really what you can make the analogy to here. In fact, the FBI was part of this operation, part of the arrest of Maduro and his wife who were indicted here in the United States. So, Congress doesn't need to be notified every time the executive branch is making an arrest. And that's exactly what happened this morning in Venezuela. And now Maduro is going to come to the United States and he's going to face justice.
Anchor: Senator Cotton, this is another example of United States military excellence under Secretary Hegseth and also President Trump. What does this morning's military strikes and the capture of Maduro? What message does that send to the other narcoterrorism as well as their supporters like China and Iran throughout the world?
Senator Cotton: Well, again, it's an operation that only the United States military could execute. You could combine it with the air attacks we launched in Iran last June. It's just a reminder to adversaries around the world of what our military is capable of when we have a commander-in-chief with the strength and resolution to deploy that military when necessary to defend vital US national interests. Remember the bodyguards around the illegitimate dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela were mostly Cuban and they apparently didn't do such a good job of guarding him. So, I think if you're a bad guy anywhere in the world, whether you're a drug trafficker, a dictator, an anti-American, a communist, you're waking up this morning and you're realizing that we have a military and a President who is strong and resolute in defense of our interests.
Anchor: What does the future of Cuba look like this morning to you?
Senator Cotton: Well, Cuba is already in a shambles. They've had massive refugee outflows. Their economy is on life support. They've been dependent now for many years under Nicolás Maduro and before that Hugo Chavez on cut rate Venezuelan oil. That's why they provided the bodyguards to Maduro and intelligence support to Venezuela. That's one thing that we certainly would want to see the new Venezuelan government stop is its support for Cuba and that would put Cuba even more on the ropes than it already is.
Anchor: Senator, let me ask you. So, we learned in that interview from President Trump that obviously we now know that Maduro and his wife are aboard the Iwo Jima, USS Iwo Jima, and then will make their way to here in New York. Well, they'll await a trial, but you see the vice president in Venezuela currently, Delcy Rodriguez, that took to the Venezuelan Airways and demanded proof of life. What do you see? Should the administration, the Trump administration, should they show Maduro where he is on the on the Iwo Jima or is there some sort of communication that needs to start right now between this vice president Delcy Rodriguez who was obviously the number two person, she's the number two in in the Maduro regime, now soon to be number one.
Senator Cotton: Well, I think the whole world will have proof of life of Nicolás Maduro soon when he's wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs in an American court. Going forward though, it's important to remember that we never recognized Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela. For that matter, neither did the Biden administration, much of the civilized world. There is an elected leader in exile in Spain. It’s going to take some time to sort things out in Venezuela, but what we want more than anything in the short term and the long run is a government in Venezuela that will work with the United States that will stop drug trafficking as opposed to empowering and working with drug traffickers, stop human trafficking, and stop colluding with countries like China and Cuba and Iran to build a more stable and prosperous Venezuela and to protect our own backyard.
Anchor: Senator Top Cotton, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you, Senator.