Chris Murphy Says Venezuela Takeover Was To Benefit Trump’s ‘Oil Industry Buddies’

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) says President Donald Trump’s takeover of Venezuela was “not about American national security interests,” but “about what’s best for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago oil industry buddies.”

Appearing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked the Connecticut senator about his past comments describing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as an “illegitimate leader,” and about his claims in 2019 that “getting rid” of Maduro would be “good for the United States.”

“Is Venezuela now better off without Nicolás Maduro? Do you give the Trump administration some credit for that?” Welker questioned.

Doubling down on his comments, Murphy reiterated that “Maduro is an illegitimate leader” while also calling Russian President Vladimir Putin an illegitimate leader. He argued, however, that “doesn’t mean that it’s good policy to invade those countries.”

“What we have seen over and over is that American military hubris, thinking that we can impose a political reality on a foreign country by force, ends up making us less safe,” he explained. “So yes, I thought that it was important for America to pursue a diplomatic strategy with our Latin American allies to try to force elections in Venezuela so as to allow the Venezuelan people to move Maduro out of power. I have never supported an invasion of Venezuela. Because I think ― ”

Welker then interjected to ask, “But is [Venezuela] better off?”

“Well, apparently this new person in charge, Delcy Rodriguez, is imposing a brutal crackdown on the Venezuelan people that’s worse in some ways than what Maduro did,” he continued. “So for the Venezuelan people, nothing has changed.”

Murphy added: “All that seemingly has changed is that American oil executives are going to get access to greater amounts of profit out of Venezuela.”

Rodriguez, who served as vice president to the now-dethroned Maduro since 2018, stepped in as acting president of Venezuela following Maduro’s capture by U.S. forces earlier this month. Rodriguez has fiercely defended Maduro’s regime against accusations of drug-trafficking and election-stealing.

At a Jan. 3 news conference, Trump said he thinks Rodriguez is “willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” but ominously told The Atlantic a day later that if she “doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”

Shortly after Trump’s news conference, Rodriguez condemned Maduro’s capture as “an atrocity that violates international law,” adding that Venezuela is “ready to defend our natural resources.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Welker asked Murphy about his thoughts on Trump’s repeated remarks about “annexing Greenland,” which prompted the senator to declare that the right-wing leader has been “spending no time thinking about the actual crises that are being visited on American families.”

Arguing that Trump is “distracted by things that don’t matter to the American people at a moment where the American people are in crisis,” Murphy added, “That is the underlying reality of a White House that has become out of control.”

Watch Murphy’s appearance on “Meet the Press” below.