Following the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, the hosts of “The View” were split on Monday. While the ABC hosts were stunned at how “completely, 100% illegal” Trump’s actions were, they also celebrated for Venezuelan citizens.
The capture of Maduro led the day’s Hot Topics, and host Sunny Hostin, who is a former federal prosecutor, immediately weighed in on the legality of Trump sending forces to extract Maduro without any congressional approval. Hostin noted that there were dozens of people killed in the operation, and that fact is a major component.
“International law doesn’t allow it unless Congress declares war, and Congress did not do that,” she explained. “So, this country was founded on the premise of the balance of power, right? So you have checks and balances, so you have co-equal powers, co-equal branches of power.”
“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,” Hostin continued. “It just doesn’t work, and in my view, this is completely, completely, 100% illegal.”
For her part, host Ana Navarro was also not buying the motivations behind the move. The Trump administration has called it a defense against narcoterrorism and an effort to liberate the people of Venezuela, but Navarro doesn’t believe that/
“Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn about the Venezuelan people,” she said. “If he did, he wouldn’t be taking away temporary protective status from 600,000. He wouldn’t be arresting the Venezuelans that are seeking asylum here. He wouldn’t be maligning the entire community and sending hundreds of Venezuelans to a hell hole prison in El Salvador.”
Navarro added that Trump also doesn’t “give a damn” about drugs, considering his pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving 45 years in federal prison for bringing cocaine into the U.S.
Really, Navarro things the move to take Maduro was more about Trump’s ego. That said, she still took joy in the moment, noting that the people of south Florida are the ones who voted for Trump specifically in hopes this would happen.
“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 over 25 years — when we see him in handcuffs and held to some sort of accountability, it brought me to tears,” she said. “It brought me great joy.”
When Hostin asked Navarro if she was at all concerned about the methods Trump used to get to Maduro, Navarro conceded she was.
“I think both things can be true. I think you can criticize and ask questions and have concerns about the way it was done, and what this means in the future,” Navarro replied. “And I think you can still celebrate that this murderous, corrupt, sadistic son of a bitch is out of Venezuela.”
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
The post ‘The View’ Hosts Split on Trump’s Capture of Nicolas Maduro: ‘Very Happy Day’ for Venezuelans but ‘Completely, 100% Illegal’ appeared first on TheWrap.
