Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined President Donald J. Trump at a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday, detailing the successful military operation in Venezuela that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio took the podium with a strong message for foreign leaders and unwavering support for Trump’s leadership.
Rubio started by saying says Maduro is not the legitimate president, and that it is “not just us saying it.”
“He is not the legitimate president of Venezuela. That’s not just us saying it. The first Trump administration, the Biden administration, the second Trump administration, none of those three recognized him. He’s not recognized by the European Union and multiple countries around the world. He is a fugitive of American justice with a $50 million reward.”
“I guess we saved ourselves $50m,” Rubio joked, prompting Trump to chime in with, “We should make sure… don’t let anybody claim it.”
Rubio said Maduro had “multiple opportunities” to avoid the military takedown, but chose instead to “act like a wild man” and “play around.”
“I want to be clear about one thing. Nicholas Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this,” Rubio said. “He was provided multiple very, very, very generous offers and chose instead to act like a wild man. He chose instead to play around. And the result is what we saw tonight.
“You have a guy, like many people around the world, they like to play games.”
He said describes Maduro is a man who decided to “invite Iran into his country,” “flood the US with gang members,” confiscate American oil companies, take Americans prisoner, and try to hold them for hostage and trade them.
“Basically [he] likes to play games all this time and thinks nothing’s going to happen,” Rubio said. “I hope what people now understand is we have a president, the 47th president of the United States, [who] is not a game player.”
Rubio later added, “This guy had multiple opportunities to find his way somewhere else and figure out another. He could have been living somewhere else right now, very happy, but instead, he wanted to play big boy. And so now, you know, he’s got other sets of problems on his hands.”
Rubio complimented Trump and his leadership, saying that when Trump “tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it. He actions it.”
Rubio called Trump “a president of peace,” but described Trump’s resolve when it comes to the nation’s interests.
“I can tell you, I’ve watched this process now for 14, 15 years, been around it, everybody talks, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that. When I get there, we’re going to do this,” he said. “This is a president of action.”
He said he was surprised other people “haven’t figured this out.”
“And now, if you don’t know, now you know, cuz this is the way it’s going to play out,” Rubio warned. “And I think people need to understand that this is not a president that just talks and does letters and press conferences… If he says he’s serious about something, he means it.”
“This is something that was a direct threat to the national interest of the United States, and the president addressed it,” Rubio added.
“I think the message here should be for the world. Look, the president doesn’t go out looking for people to pick fights with. He generally wants to get along with everybody. We’ll talk and meet with anybody, but don’t play games. Don’t play games with this president’s office because it’s not going to turn out well.”
“I guess that lesson was learned last night, and we hope it’ll be instructive moving forward,” he said.
Rubio also warned Cuba’s leaders, saying “I’d be concerned” following the precision strike in Venezuela.
The secretary accused Cuba of being “run by incompetent, senile men, and in some cases not seen now, but incompetent nonetheless.” He claimed Maduro’s guards and Venezuela’s “whole spy agency” were “full of Cubans,” and that “this poor island took over Venezuela.”
Trump told the New York Post that many Cubans died during the operation to capture Maduro.
“Cuba was always very reliant on Venezuela. That’s where they got their money, and they protected Venezuela, but that didn’t work out too well in this case,” Trump told the New York Post on Saturday. “You know, many Cubans lost their lives last night. … They were protecting Maduro. That was not a good move.”
Trump did not have the exact death toll of Cuban and Venezuelan forces.
He said he is not considering military action against Cuba, but that it will “fall of its own volition.”
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