U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) joined Newsmax TV's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" on Monday evening for a discussion centered on the recent arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The show's host asked the lawmaker during the segment if allowing Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to control the country was the correct decision, given her close ties to the dictator and socialism.
According to Tuberville, Rodriguez is "as big a criminal as Maduro."
"No, she's as big a criminal as Maduro," Tuberville answered. "So, at the end of the day, President Trump knows it's got to be cleaned up. I don't know how it's going to happen, but he'll make sure that there's a free and fair election and let the people of Venezuela pick their president. That's what they did last time."
"But this dictator, Maduro, wouldn't leave. So he said, 'Hey, I'm staying here, I've got control, I've got control of the military.' And when you control the military of any country, you control that country. And that especially is the case when you're involved in South America," he added.
According to the Associated Press, Rodriguez has been sanctioned by the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the European Union for her "role in undermining Venezuelan democracy."
Rodriguez became the vice president of Venezuela in 2018 and has held multiple government positions under both Hugo Chávez and Maduro. In recent years, she has reportedly overseen the Venezuelan intelligence service. Her father, Jorge Antonio Rodriguez, was a left-wing guerrilla fighter and helped found the Liga Socialista, a militant far-left Marxist party, in the 1970s.
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