January 4, 2026: Cotton joins CNN State of the Union

Here with me now is the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it. The first question is, what is your understanding of the meaning behind, we are going to run the country until such time as we can do safe, proper, and judicious transition?

What does it mean for the U.S. to run Venezuela?

Well, who's not running Venezuela anymore is Nicolas Maduro, and that's a great thing, and it's a great day for America and for the people of Venezuela and really the civilized world. Nicolas Maduro was an indicted drug trafficker in U.S. courts.

He was an illegitimate communist dictator. His drugs had killed hundreds of Arkansans, thousands of Americans, and he was in league with anti-American countries around the world like Cuba and Iran or Islamic terrorists. It's a good thing that he's in a jail now in New York City. The President said that when the President said the United States is going to be running Venezuela, it means that the new leaders of Venezuela need

to meet our demands. Our demands are now what they were before yesterday, that we want them to stop the drug trafficking, we want them to stop the drug trafficking. We want them to stop the weapons trafficking. We want them to expel the Cubans and the Iranians and the Islamic radicals. And we want them to return to the civilized world

and be a good neighbor that contributes to stability, order, and prosperity in our own backyard.

But he literally turned around and pointed to his secretaries of state, defense, chairman of the joint chiefs, and said, But he literally turned around and pointed to his secretaries of state, defense, chairman of the joint chiefs, and said, they're going to run Venezuela.

Well, I know that Secretary Rubio in particular is in consultation with other members of the Maduro government. He's also in consultation with members of the opposition. They're working through what kind of what an interim or transition government would look like. Obviously, Secretary Hexeth and General Kane, our entire military, deserve our praise and an amazing rave.

Maybe the most complex operation that's occurred in the five years Donald Trump has been president without a single American life being lost. And I think we'll see whether the vice president of Venezuela, who is sanctioned by the United States and many other countries,

who was in league and hand-chosen by Maduro, wants to turn over a new leaf. I think we'll see whether or not they're going to let the opposition back into the country and have new elections, which is what the opposition itself wants. So there's still a lot of questions to be answered, but it's a great day that Nicolas Maduro,

an illegitimate communist dictator and indicted drug trafficker, is no longer in charge of Venezuela.

But I guess the question is, who is right now? The vice president who you talked about, which I'll get to in a minute, Rodriguez, she technically, I guess, the Supreme Court said that she is in charge. Is she the person that the U.S. does officially recognize as a leader?

And then, again, I just want to go back to the president of the United States said, we, Americans, are now in charge or are now running Venezuela. I mean, that's a big statement.

We don't recognize Delce Rodriguez as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela. We didn't recognize Nicolas Maduro as a legitimate ruler. For that matter, neither did the Biden administration nor the European Union. It is a fact that she and other indicted and sanctioned officials are in Venezuela. They have control of the military and security services. We have to deal with that fact that does not make them a legitimate leader. What we want is a future Venezuelan government that will be pro-American, that will contribute to stability,

order and prosperity, not only in Venezuela but in our own backyard. That probably needs to include new elections that are legitimate, that are fair and free, that include leaders of the opposition who are currently in exile around the world. There's a lot of steps to take in the future. We don't know what every twist and turn is gonna hold, but we do know that Nicolas Maduro, an illegitimate communist dictator and drug trafficker,

is in prison in the United States, and that's a great thing.

I think there is a lot of concern among Americans right now that nobody knows what comes next. I mean, you just laid out the possibilities, but it can go either way at any step along the way. And we saw with Iraq what happens when you remove a dictator.

Maduro definitely was a dictator. Saddam Hussein was a dictator. Without a clear understanding of what comes next and the leadership in this country. And I don't need to tell you. I mean, you won the Bronze Star

for your military service in Iraq. A number of your fellow combat veterans there, Senator Gallego, Congressman Jason Crowe, Congressman Jake Auchincloss,

they are saying that they're deeply worried about the U.S. repeating the mistakes in Iraq

with Venezuela. I think the analogy to the Iraq war is flawed. Latin America is not the Middle East. Venezuela is an ethnically...

Some say Venezuela is more complicated.

Well, no, it's an ethnically, religiously, culturally homogenous country. It does have a long history of stability and prosperity and working with America for decades before Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro ruined the country, I would cite a much more relevant precedent because it's much closer, both geographically and in circumstances. In 1989, George Bush sent more than 40,000 American troops

into Panama to arrest Manuel Noriega, who's an indicted U.S. drug trafficker, and bring him back to the United States. Ever since, Panama has had a pro-American government. We've worked with them closely. They've been working with the Trump administration to minimize Chinese influence around the Panama

Canal. I think that's a much closer analog. That was a successful operation. I believe in the long run, this will be too. It has a chance to be truly revolutionary here in the Western Hemisphere by removing one of the biggest sources of instability in anti-American activism.

So I just want to say once again that it's such a great day that Nicolas Maduro has been removed just like it was when Manuel Noriega was removed from power in 1989.

You mentioned that you hope that the former vice president, Maduro's vice president,

Delce Rodriguez, is somebody who will work with the United States.

She also has been a part of his inner circle.

She also happens to be the oil minister in Venezuela. So is that part of what's going on here, that the administration is trying to install somebody who will be friendly to the United States with regard to oil?

Well, I don't think that we can count on Delsey Rodriguez to be friendly to the United States until she proves it. I mean, there are examples, recent examples, of anti-American leaders around the world turning over a new leaf. You had Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2003. You had Ahmed al-Shara, the current leader of Syria. But they made concrete concessions that benefited the United States. Well, they had a long history of turning a new page

and moving in our direction. Dulce Rodriguez and other sanctioned and indicted ministers in Venezuela were in league with Maduro until yesterday. So I don't think we can count on them to be pro-American at all. I hope they turn over a new page. I hope they begin to meet our demands. And it is the case that Venezuela still owes many billions of dollars in legal judgments to American oil companies.

It's also the case that Venezuela has the world's largest proven oil reserves. The United States used to be their number one customer. Many of our refineries are built specifically for Venezuelan oil. That oil will go a long way towards financing Venezuela's reconstruction and a return to prosperity and stability.

You talk about oil, the president talked about oil in his press conference many, many times. Is that what this is about? Is it about money and to get American oil companies in there?

No, it's primarily about a communist dictatorship that was trafficking drugs into the United States that was in league with Islamic radicals in Iran and Cuba and China and Russia that was given many opportunities to step aside, as has happened throughout recent decades in Latin American history. He refused those opportunities. Our military took bold, audacious, decisive action,

and the United States is a safer place today for it.

The president did not rule out the possibility of sending the U.S. military back in. Would you be comfortable with that?

Well, the U.S. military has already been in, as Nicolas Maduro learned the hard way. But I think Americans now, after five years of Donald Trump's presidency, realize that there are certain signature features of how he uses our military.

Take four examples. The raid that killed the ISIS leader in Syria, the drone strikes that killed Iran's terror mastermind in Iraq, the bombing of Iran's nuclear facility, now this raid.

Those are one and done, and they didn't involve regime change.

But think about it.

I just want to just clarify.

Bold, decisive, audacious, and direct.

And so was...

They achieved vital U.S. national interest.

Yeah, and so was what happened in Venezuela. No question about it. The military was extraordinary there. The question is about what's next. Will you feel comfortable if the military goes in to protect the oil fields,

for example?

Well, I think that Delcy Rodriguez and the other ministers in Venezuela understand now what the U.S. military is capable of. And as President Trump and Secretary Rubio indicated yesterday, if they don't want to follow in Maduro's footsteps, they need to start meeting our demands. And it's always an option for our military to protect American citizens, of which we have many in Venezuela and American interest around the world.

The president- And the interest is Venezuelan oil fields in this case?

We have many US citizens and many American interest. And again, Venezuela owes many billions of dollars to American companies for their past seizure of American property in that country.

Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Tom Cotton, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Tom Cotton, thank you so much for being here.