Speaking with Trish Regan on Fox Business Network on Thursday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) blistered Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) for blaming the United States for the horrific state of affairs in Venezuela.
On Wednesday, PBS anchor Amy Goodman asked Omar “if you can comment on what’s taking place right now in Venezuela, the U.S. supported coup attempt against President Maduro.” Omar answered, “A lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela. And we sort of set the stage for what we’re arriving today, this particular bullying and the use of sanctions to eventually intervene and make regime change really does not help the people of countries like Venezuela and it certainly does not help, it’s not in the interest of the United States.”
Regan said to Rubio, “That’s Ilhan Omar, the representative from Minnesota.”
Rubio interjected, “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Regan continued, “So somehow, the problems of Venezuela are the United States, and the results of whatever the United States has done?”
Rubio stated:
Yeah, I think she was just recently elected, she has no idea what she’s talking about, she’s just making it up. She doesn’t even follow this issue, most of the people in Washington aren’t following this issue. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. I mean, the sanctions that are on Maduro have been in place for two months, before that all the sanctions were on individuals.
She won’t find a single Venezuelan other than those in the regime that would even agree with, it’s ridiculous. They’ve stolen the money; they’ve degraded the country by literally stealing, they haven’t upgraded their, for example, their electric grid in 25 years. Any money that was ever made from the oil was stolen and put into people’s pockets. So honestly, I don’t even feel like addressing the comment because it’s not an informed one, it’s not an intelligent one. It’s silly, it’s ridiculous, and it’s actually embarrassing.
Rubio has been intimately involved in the situation in Venezuela; he is a fierce supporter of acting President Juan Guaido; in mid-February he warned soldiers in Venezuela if they blocked U.S. aid to the nation it would be a “crime against humanity.”
In March, Rubio stated, “The suffering people of Venezuela are about to experience the most dramatic shortages they have ever faced, the implications of which we cannot fully predict. Venezuela is just a handful of days away from running out of basic staples, wheat and corn meal and cooking oil, again, because of complete and utter mismanagement. All of the leaders of Venezuela are overweight, and yet the people, on average, are losing 24 pounds in a year. I assure you, none of the Maduro regime cronies are going to go hungry, but millions of Venezuelans are going to continue to go hungry and [it will be] exacerbated in a way we have not seen.”
On April 30, Rubio attacked CNN for its coverage of Venezuela, writing, “Just saw @CNN shamefully call what is happening today in #Venezuela a ‘coup attempt’ @jguaido is recognized as legitimate interim President of #Venezuela by constitution, over 50 countries & OAS. The only coup is the one carried out by #Cuba in support of dictator #Maduro.”
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