Marco Rubio has declined to rule out future US military action in Venezuela but insisted the Trump administration did not intend to take such steps, as he faced questions from lawmakers over Washington’s unprecedented intervention.
The US secretary of state appeared before the Senate foreign relations committee on Wednesday to defend the removal of Nicolás Maduro, which has left Venezuela under the control of interim president Delcy Rodríguez while the US seizes and sells its oil.
“The president does reserve the option in self defense to eliminate that threat,” Rubio said when pressed by Connecticut senator Chris Murphy on whether the administration would use force to compel cooperation on oil sales.
Self -defence in the Trump era:
“Waaah, they won’t sell their oil after we invaded their country, time to use my bang-bang”
or
“Waaah, a protestor is lying face down on the floor with lots of people stopping him moving, he’s definitely a threat to me, time to use my pew-pew”