“It\u2019s not legal because it violates international law, right?” Hostin said, claiming that “the U.S. government killed over 100 people, including civilians and military in Venezuela during this kidnapping and capture, and international law doesn\u2019t allow it unless Congress declares war, and Congress did not do that.”<\/p>\n
“So this country was founded on the premise of the balance of power, right?” she continued. “So you have a [sic] checks and balances. So you have co-equal powers \u2014 co-equal branches of power. So you have the judicial branch, and then you have the executive branch, which the president is a part of, and then you have, of course, the legislative branch, and that\u2019s Congress, and they are supposed to check each other. This president is doing whatever the heck he wants without any checks or balances, and I have never in my lifetime seen this type of regime change, which is what we just saw, work out well for the United States. It just doesn\u2019t work, and in my view, this is completely, completely, 100% illegal.”<\/p>\n
VENEZUELA ORDERS NATIONWIDE MANHUNT FOR SUPPORTERS AFTER MADURO’S ARREST BY US FORCES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin referred to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro as a “kidnapping.” (Gary Gershoff\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Later in the episode, Hostin argued that oil was the key incentive for the operation<\/a>, and she compared the Trump administration’s policy in the region to piracy.<\/p>\n “The thing that\u2019s interesting to me is Venezuela \u2014 I don\u2019t think a lot of people know \u2014 owns 20% of the world\u2019s oil. More than Saudi Arabia. And Trump for months, we\u2019ve been saying at this table, \u2018This is about the oil,\u2019 but for months Trump was saying, ‘This is about narco-terrorism. This is about drugs being brought to this country.\u2019 When you look at the indictment, it\u2019s about drugs being brought to this country.”<\/p>\n She then went on to ask, “Isn\u2019t anyone concerned about the fact that what we\u2019re doing is almost piracy? It\u2019s like imperialism. We\u2019re going to another country, and we\u2019re taking their natural resources for ourselves and on top of it, if we can do something like this, who is to say that Vladimir Putin, then, doesn\u2019t go to Ukraine and arrest Zelenskyy?”<\/p>\n MEXICAN PRESIDENT REJECTS US SENDING TROOPS TO HER COUNTRY: ‘I DON’T BELIEVE IN AN INVASION’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Then-President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro speaks during a military ceremony on Nov. 25, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Jesus Vargas\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n While co-host Ana Navarro also criticized the Trump administration, doubting its motivations, she said this indeed was the will of many people in South Florida, particularly the Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and Cuban diaspora in America.<\/p>\n “For us, this is a very, very happy day when we see a dictator who has been part of oppressing and abusing the Venezuelan people for 25 years, when we see him in handcuffs and held to some sort of accountability, it brought me to tears. It brought me great joy.”<\/p>\n “I think both things can be true,”<\/a> she said about her mixed feelings about the successful operation. “I think you can criticize and ask questions and have concerns about the way it was done and what this means in the future, and I think you can still celebrate that this murderous, corrupt, sadistic son of a b—- is out of Venezuela because he has, I think, 8 million Venezuelan exiles all over the world. People have fled from this man\u2019s tyrannical rule.”<\/p>\n![\"Sunny](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/sunny-hostin-at-event.png\")
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![\"Venezuelan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-federal-charges-transfer-new-york-005.jpg\")
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