‘How Is This America First?’ CNN Anchor Grills House Republican Celebrating Trump Strikes

CNN’s Sara Sidner pressed Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) on how President Donald Trump’s capture of disputed-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and a takeover of the country is “America first.”

Gimenez joined Sidner, filling in for Michael Smerconish, on Saturday following Trump’s administration conducting massive strikes on Venezuelan capital Caracas. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were both taken into custody and are now being transported to New York where they will face narco-terrorism charges.

Gimenez celebrated Maduro’s removal from office. Maduro was not recognized as the legitimate leader of Venezuela by the United States and other countries following his election victory being challenged. Maduro was indicted in 2020 on drug trafficking charges and a new superseding indictment accuses him and his wife of transporting cocaine to the United States for decades.

Sidner pressed Gimenez on Trump’s claim that the United States will “run” Venezuela for a time following Maduro’s removal.

“You know, the president himself has said over and over again, no more wars, that he wants to be the president of peace, that believes that the United States should not be the world police. And now he’s invaded Venezuela and says that Americans will run Venezuela for a while until an interim government can be put in place. How is this America first?” she asked.

“Look, it’s America first because Venezuela is not a friend of the United States. Venezuela harbors our greatest geopolitical enemies, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea. They’ve established a foothold in Venezuela, and [Maduro] makes it no secret that he’s aligned with them,” Gimenez said.

The congressman argued Maduro is was a fugitive and the United States had every right to capture him. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier described the mission as law enforcement-driven rather than military-driven.

“Are you perfectly okay with the United States running Venezuela when there are a lot of problems that Americans are complaining about here, including health care and the economy itself? And he says he’s going to spend billions of dollars to fix the problems in Venezuela. What about here at home? How long are you okay with, for example, troops being on the ground there?” Sidner pushed further.

Gimenez argued Venezuela’s oil can provide funding to rebuild the country, but called for the “least amount of intervention” as possible.

“Venezuela was a democracy for a long time until Maduro took over,” he said. “Even Chávez was elected democratically, but he used democracy against democracy in order to remain in power. That’s not really the intent of democracy. We need to get a democratic government installed back in Venezuela, and I’m sure that that government’s going to be a heck of a lot friendlier to the United States than the Chavez-Maduro regime has been,” the congressman said.

Trump was also asked on Saturday how his actions aligned with his “America First” promises. The president said it’s important to surround “ourselves with good neighbors.”

“We want to surround ourselves with stability. We want to surround ourselves with energy,” he said. “We have tremendous energy in that country. It’s very important that we protect it. We need that for ourselves, we need that for the world.”

Watch above via CNN.