Marco Rubio

Democrats have criticized the administration for not notifying Congress of the operation and have concerns of escalation in the region.

Maduro is currently in U.S.

custody.

After this operation happened, look at the people who criticized it.

China, Russia, Iran, Hamas, these were the people that were upset about this raid and what we did.

And I can tell you that in many countries in the Western Hemisphere, there was great pleasure in the fact that Maduro was removed and that it didn't involve all that war and invasions.

That said, if an Iranian drone factory pops up and threatens our forces in the region, the president retains the option to eliminate that threat.

We are not postured to, nor do we intend or expect to have to take any military action in Venezuela at any time.

The only military presence you will see in Venezuela is our Marine Guards at an embassy.

That is our goal.

That is our expectation.

And that is what everything that outlines towards.

That said, if an Iranian drone factory pops up and threatens our forces in the region, the president retains the option to eliminate that threat.

We are much further along on this project than we thought we would be given the complexities of it going into it.

And I recognize that it won't be easy.

I mean, look, at the end of the day, we are dealing with people over there that have spent most of their lives living in a gangster paradise.

In his prepared remarks to the committee of which he used to be a member, Rubio defends what he describes as a law enforcement operation to arrest and remove Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

Rubio says he's keeping a close watch on Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, who he says has vowed to cooperate with the U.S.

and open up Venezuela's energy sector to American companies.

President Trump has seized control over 50 million barrels of crude oil from Venezuela and says the U.S.