What To Know
- Ana Navarro expressed support for the removal of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by the Trump administration but acknowledged concerns.
- Navarro criticized President Trump for shifting the focus from fighting drugs to controlling Venezuela’s oil industry and questioned his intentions to have U.S. figures run the country.
- She emphasized that María Corina Machado won Venezuela’s 2024 election and called for the legitimate government to be installed.
The View co-host Ana Navarro sent a bold message to President Donald Trump after the U.S. took over Venezuela following the capture its leader, Nicolás Maduro.
On Saturday, January 3, the Trump administration bombed facilities in Venezuela, captured Maduro and his wife, and flew them to the U.S. to face charges. “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition” to new leadership, Trump said at a news conference, per NBC News.
After the news broke, Navarro — who was born in Nicaragua — took to Instagram (before Trump’s news conference) to share her support while acknowledging critics’ concerns.
“Today, for me, is a good day because Maduro is out,” she shared in a video to followers. “He is a son of a b****. I hope this sends a message to the other sons of b****es in the region. You may disagree with the way that Trump did it, but it’s done. There’s no way it was going to end any other way.”
However, Navarro also pointed out, “Yeah, he did it without congressional authorization. This was an act of war, all of these things, but it’s now done. I think it doesn’t escalate from here because the objective of this was to get Maduro out, and certainly there’s an oil component. Certainly, there’s a lot of Trump ego in this about being able to do it. But it’s done.”
She added, “I, for one, am very happy that Maduro is out, and I pray and hope for the freedom and peace of Venezuela. Join me in that, please.”
Later on Saturday, Navarro returned to Instagram to call out Trump for his shifting motives.
“All of a sudden, he’s changed his tune,” she said in the video. “Instead of making it about drugs, he made it all about oil. He talked about sending U.S. companies in to fix the infrastructure and run the oil industry, and pay themselves back, and then sell oil to foreign nations. He talked about running Venezuela, that he was gonna have Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio run Venezuela. Why?”
Additionally, she pointed out that María Corina Machado legitimately won over Maduro in the 2024 election.
“Do you know the stones it takes, the balls and courage it takes, for an oppressed people to go out on the streets and vote against the dictator?” Navarro told followers. “Well, the Venezuelan people did that in July 2024. There is a legitimate government of Venezuela that needs to be put in power as soon as possible. Because I don’t think that my Venezuelan brothers and sisters want to be a U.S. protectorate. I think they want to be, and deserve to be, a free country.”
“This is insane,” she insisted. “We have to reject any effort by Donald Trump to run Venezuela.”
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