PALM BEACH, Florida – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio humiliated CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan on Sunday concerning President Donald Trump’s daring weekend capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
During her broadcast of “Face the Nation,” Brennan wondered why the U.S. captured only Maduro and his wife, while letting other indicted Venezuelan leaders remain in place, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello Rondon and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.
“You just described the regime as still in place essentially. I’m curious why the Trump administration decided to leave it intact and only arrest Nicolas Maduro and his wife,” Brennan said.
“I’m confused. Are they still wanted by the United States? Why didn’t you arrest them if you are taking out the narco-terrorist regime?”
Rubio responded: “You’re confused? I don’t know why that’s confusing to you.”
“They’re still in power,” Brennan replied.
“It’s very simple,” explained Rubio. “You’re gonna go in and suck up five people? They’re already complaining about this one operation. Imagine the howls we would have from everybody else if we actually had to go there and stay four days to capture four other people.
“We got the top priority, the No. 1 person on the list was the guy who claimed to be the president of the country that he was not. And he was arrested along with his wife who was also indicted. And that was a pretty sophisticated and frankly complicated operation.”
BRENNAN: You’re describing the regime as still intact.
Why arrest only Maduro when the police chief and defense minister — both indicted narco-terrorists with multimillion-dollar bounties — are still in power?
RUBIO: You’re confused? I don’t know why that’s confusing. We’re… pic.twitter.com/IaynULOfg7
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) January 4, 2026
Rubio continued: “It is not easy to land helicopters in the middle of the largest military base in the country – the guy lived on a military base – land, within three minutes kick down his door, grab him, put him in handcuffs, read him his rights, put him in a helicopter and leave the country without losing any American or any American assets.
“That’s not an easy mission. And you’re asking me why we didn’t do that in five other places at the same time?! I mean that’s absurd.”
Brennan responded: “The others who are also indicted are still in place, so that’s the point of my questioning there.”
Rubio wondered aloud: “So you wanted us to land in five other military bases?”
“No, I’m asking why you chose – this was the limit of the military operation,” Brennan pressed again.
“He was the guy that was claiming to be the president,” said Rubio. “He was the top target.”
This was not the first time Rubio has schooled Brennan on the air.
As WorldNetDaily reported in July, Rubio got into a heated discussion with her about American intelligence regarding Trump’s military strike against three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Rubio was asked by Brennan: “Are you saying there that the United States did not see intelligence that the supreme leader [of Iran] had ordered weaponization [of uranium]?”
“That’s an irrelevant question,” Rubio responded.
Brennan said: “That is the key point in U.S. intelligence assessment. You know that.”
“No it’s not, Rubio replied.
“Yes it was,” Brennan insisted.
“No it’s not,” Rubio emphasized. “I know that better than you know that, and I know that that’s not the case. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It doesn’t matter if the order was given. They have everything they need to build nuclear weapons. Why would you bury things in a mountain 300 feet under the ground? Why do they have 60% enriched uranium? You don’t need 60% enriched uranium.
Wow. Margaret Brennan thought she knew more about foreign policy than Marco Rubio.
She lost. Again.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 22, 2025
“The only countries in the world that have uranium at 60% are countries that have nuclear weapons, because you can quickly make 90[%]. They have all of the elements. Why do they have a space program? Is Iran gonna go to the moon? No. They’re trying to build an ICBM so they can one day put a warhead on it.”
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