Marco Rubio Claims Biden Administration 'Got Played' By Maduro Regime On Election Agreement: 'I Knew They Would'

Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio referred to the Venezuelan crisis during several passages of his nomination hearing on Wednesday, most notably pointing out that he believes the Biden administration "got played" by the Maduro regime during negotiations regarding last year's presidential election, which Maduro claimed to have won despite a lack of backing documentation. He began a third term in office last week despite not being recognized by the vast majority of the international community, who consider opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez as the rightful winner.

When answering a question by Senator Rick Scott about his take on some of the most represented nationalities of Florida, Rubio offered detailed commentary on Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba.

"Venezuela, sadly is not governed by a government," said Rubio. "It's governed by a narcotrafficking organization that has empowered itself with a nation state."

The Republican then went on to detail his take on the current crisis that has engulfed Venezuela, taking a jab at the Biden administration's relationship with the South American nation:

"We have seen upwards of seven to eight, nine million Venezuelans who have left the country. More are expected to leave. I was in strong disagreement with the Biden administration because they got played the way I knew they would get played. They entered negotiations with Maduro, he agreed to have elections, the elections were completely fake, they leveraged migration against us to get concessions and now they have these general licenses where companies like Chevron are actually providing millions of dollars into the regime's coffers and the regime kept none of the promises they made"

Rubio concluded his intervention by saying that the U.S. relationship with Venezuela needs to be reexplored especially since "you have the Russian presence and you have a very strong Iranian presence."

Rubio also referred to Venezuela in two other passages of his hearing. In one instance, when taking a jab at Mexico: "it's been disappointing to see the position they (Mexico) have taken in regards to Venezuela." In another passage, Rubio also said there's "a global market for detaining Americans wrongfully in Venezuela, in Russia, in China, in Iran and then using them to trade for something they want in the future":

Rubio has been a vocal critic of Nicolás Maduro's regime. He played a key role in pushing for sanctions against Venezuela and has consistently called for the removal of Maduro, whom he views as a dictator. Despite the suffering caused by sanctions, Maduro remains in power, but Rubio remains steadfast in his support for efforts to undermine his government.