Stephen Miller Gives Fiery Defense Of Maduro Capture In Tense Interview With CNN's Jake Tapper

We're back and continuing with the world lead and asking questions about what happened in Venezuela over the weekend and what happens now White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller joins us now Stephen. Thanks so much for joining us. So a source briefed on the Venezuelan operation told me that a handful of American troops sustained bullet and shrapnel wounds but none are life threatening. Can you share with us how serious any injuries to American service members might be. And also any information you can tell us about any Venezuelan civilian casualties?

Yes. Well, let me take the second part first, which is that the overwhelming share of casualties and fatalities that were inflicted were against the Cuban Guard that had exerted control over the people of Venezuela. So what many don't realize is that for years Maduro stayed in power through an illicit deal with Cuban communists to provide his security because he didn't trust his own people to keep him safe.

That is how much he was hated inside of Venezuela. So what our special forces encountered when they did that daring midnight assault into Caracas were armed Cuban guards. And they sustained massive numbers of casualties. I can't give you an exact number.

The numbers that you've seen in terms of the Cuban guards publicly reported are probably lower than the actual number that were killed. To your first question, no, none of the, at least as I've been briefed, none of the injuries are life-threatening. Everybody is stable and it just underscores the remarkable skill, precision, courage, and capability of our Special Forces. And I want to just set the table one more time for your audience.

I'm sure you've talked about it at length already. But the United States of America launched an assault force into Venezuelan territory, which has sophisticated air defense systems, which has sophisticated surveillance systems, which has weaponry that they've received that can take out planes and helicopters from our foreign adversaries, they've been stockpiling for years in anticipation of the possibility of such an action.

Maduro was staying in a military fortress. In other words, since the United States had started amassing this armada under President Trump's leadership and direction. He'd increasingly narrowed the scope of his own movement. He was sleeping in a fortress. And so we flew into Caracas. These special forces engaged in direct gunfire with elite Cuban guards and every single kill, every single kill was an enemy kill. So there were no civilian casualties?

Well, I didn't see any reports of any civilian casualties, but my point is that in this raging gunfire battle that took place, the point that I'm making to you is no Americans were killed. Right. Because of the planning, skill and preparation,

the enemy sustained massive losses. Not one of our assets was lost, not one of our people was lost.

So let's talk about what next. Delce Rodriguez was formally sworn as Venezuela's acting president this afternoon. She was the vice president. She described the US intervention as quote, without a doubt Zionist in character, unquote.

Is acting president Rodriguez someone that the US can work

with so the the acting president put out a statement I want to say Jake it was last night pledging cooperation with the United States pledging full and complete cooperation but they also just passed a law saying that if you supported the operation again outlawing some individuals or threatening with criminal penalties individuals if they supported the operation against Maduro I think they did that today. Well the good news there Jake is that nobody inside of Venezuela supported

the operation so it's a law without meaning or effect. Look Jake there's going to be some posturing that occurs when a nation has been so thoroughly defeated in this way. The United States of America, think about this, Jake, the United States of America has encircled this nation for months. One of the largest naval armadas in history has been stationed off its coast. Fighter jets have been encircling the island.

We've been engaging in kinetic lethal strikes against Maduro's drug boats and trained Arawak gang members leaving the the island.

Yeah.

We have launched a complete oil embargo of the ghost fleet, the dark ships. We've been covering all of that.

Yeah.

And now on top of all that, right, Maduro is sitting in a jail cell in New York as is his wife. So of course there's going to be, this is very important though, of course there's going to be some posturing. Without giving anything away, I want to be very clear, very clear. The government has sent messages, this is such an important point, Jake, to the Secretary of State, to our senior U.S. government official negotiators.

They have sent message after message making clear that they will meet the terms, demands, conditions, and requirements of the United States.

OK.

And I want to be very clear about that, Joe.

So let's – the question about who is now running Venezuela is one that even members of Congress who are big Trump supporters say they're not quite sure about. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told CNN's Montero that he doesn't know what President Trump meant by his assertion that the US is running Venezuela. And he said he needs more information.

Can you tell us what the president means when he says, is acting President Delce Rodriguez in charge? Is she running Venezuela or not?

Well, what the president said is true. The United States of America is running Venezuela or not. Well but the president said it's true the United States of America is running Venezuela by definition that's true. Jake we live in a law or the start we live in a world in which you can you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else but we live in a world in the real world Jake that is governed by

strength that is governed by strength that is governed by force that is governed by power these are the iron laws of the world but are you saying that the beginning of time but in terms of day-to-day operations in Venezuela that is president acting president Rodriguez right it's not some sort of American emissary no what I'm saying is it's well and we'll keep going here Jake so I want to say what I'm saying and American adversary. No, what I'm saying is, and we'll keep going here, Jake, so I want to say what I'm saying and then you'll follow up, but what I'm

saying is just one level above that, which is that by definition, we are in charge because we have the United States military stationed outside the country. We set the terms and conditions. We have a complete embargo on

all of their oil and their ability to do commerce. So for them to do commerce, they need our permission. For them to be able to run an economy, they need our permission. So the United States is in charge. The United States is running the country during this transition period. If that's true, that doesn't mean that President Trump is setting the bus fare schedule inside the country. It doesn't mean that President Trump is assigning the key to the whole curriculum in the country.

The indictment that the president and the military were acting on from 2020 was of six people. Two of them were seized on Saturday by our special operators. There are four other individuals indicted who remain in Venezuela, is the US demanding that they be turned over? That one of them is Maduro's son,

one of them is a former government official, one is a current government official, and one of them is the head of Trinidad and Tobago, as I'm sure you know. Are they gonna be turned over if President Trump

is in fact running Venezuela in the way you described? Well, I don't want to, obviously, you know, we have to balance here, Jake, which I think you more than most understand. We have to balance between, of course, what I can say to you publicly

versus very close hold conversations that might be happening privately. And I know you understand and respect that, but I'll answer the question in this way. There might be individuals who are fugitives from American justice that could become part

of a future conversation, but it's also true that for government leaders inside of Venezuela, as the president has said, we want an interim government that will respect the interests of the people of Venezuela, that wants a good, peaceful, secure future for Venezuela. So I would just say it this way.

For those who may be indicted, the best choice they can possibly make is to be part of a constructive decision-making process for the future of Venezuela. The best decision they can make is to cooperate fully and completely with the United States

to be part of building this brighter future for Venezuela during this interim period.

On another important topic, the Premier of Greenland and the Premier of Denmark and other Danish officials are responding to a Twitter post from your wife, Katie Miller, herself a former Trump White House official, showing Greenland covered with an American flag,

saying soon after that was posted, President Trump repeated the claim that the U.S. needs Greenland for national security reasons. The Danish prime minister responded to this in an interview earlier today, as reported by Bloomberg, quote, I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland, but I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses

to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO, and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.

Can you rule out that the U.S. is ever going to try to take Greenland by force? Well, let me go back a step. The president has been clear for months now, so I know you're treating this as breaking news. The president has been clear for months now that the United States should be the nation that has Greenland as part of our overall security apparatus.

The United States- Right, but your wife posted that like hours after the Venezuela operation. That's why it's newly relevant.

No, and I'll talk with you about it for an hour. I think it's a really important conversation. I just wanted to reset, Jake, by making clear that it has been the formal position of the US government since the beginning of this administration, frankly, going back into the previous Trump administration,

that Greenland should be part of the United States. The president has been very clear about that. That is the formal position of the US government.

Right, but can you say that military action against Greenland is off the table?

You want to be in military action against Greenland? The Greenland has a population of 30,000 people, Jake. The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim?

What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark? The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States.

And so that's a conversation that we're going to have as a country. That's a process we're going to have as a community of nations.

So you can't take it off the table that the US would use military force to seize Greenland. You can't take it off the table.

I understand you're trying very hard to, which again, is your job. I respect it. It's great to get exactly the headline, that catchy headline that says, Miller refuses to rule out. The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States.

There's no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you're asking of a military operation. Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland. One last question, Stephen. The question doesn't make any sense.

One last question. The president was very quick to say that the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, opposition leader Machado in Venezuela, doesn't have the support in Venezuela to become the next president or the interim leader. And I wonder where he got that from, given that basically her cut out, Gonzales, won the election last year, or two years ago,

overwhelmingly 70% of the vote or something like that. Why does the president think that Machado should not be the next leader? Why does he think she's weak?

First of all, all Venezuelan experts agree, all Venezuelan experts agree, that it would be absurd and preposterous for us to suddenly fly her into the country and to put her in charge? And the military would follow her

and the security forces would follow her? This isn't, this is not a serious, it's not even a serious question.

So should there be an election?

The, let me, if you give me the floor for 30 seconds, let me tell you what we are doing here, Jake. The United States, this is sort of foundational. The United States, this is sort of foundational, the United States is using its military to secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere. We're a superpower and under President Trump we are going to conduct ourselves as a superpower.

It is absurd that we would allow a nation in our own backyard to become the supplier of resources to our adversaries but not to us, to hoard weapons from our adversaries, to be able to be positioned as an asset against the United States rather than on behalf of the United States. Sovereign countries shouldn't be able to do

what they want to do. The Monroe Doctrine and the Trump Doctrine is all about securing the national interests of America. For years, we sent our soldiers to die in deserts in the Middle East to try to build them parliaments, to try to build them democracies, to try to give them more oil, to try

to give them more resources. The future of the free world, Jake, depends on America being able to assert ourselves and our interests without apology. This whole period that happened after World War II, where the West began apologizing and groveling and begging

and engaging these mass reparations schemes.

I don't even know, honestly, what you're talking about right now. What I'm talking about, Jake, is the idea. By the way, you do. You love doing that smarmy thing, Jake, and I was hoping it would be better than that this time.

I'm just, I asked you about if there should be an election. I asked you if there would be an election in Venezuela. That's what I asked. I said, why was the president so quick to dismiss Machado? You answered that question.

And then I said... The objective, Jake, is security and stability for the people of Venezuela. With our help and leadership, that country will become more prosperous than it has ever been in its whole history. Venezuelans will be richer and safer and more secure and better off. But the woman running Venezuela right now is part of the Maduro regime. There will be conversations, Jake, about all of these guy posts along the way.

The reason why I was giving you that speech, which I know you didn't want to hear, is because you're approaching this from the wrong frame, this neoliberal frame that the United States job is to go around the world and demanding immediate elections to be held everywhere immediately all the time right away to create these vacuums. That's not what I think, but you invaded the country. We went into the country and we seized the leader of Venezuela.

Damn straight we did! And I'm saying, so is the US going to have new elections? The point, Jay, is that we're not going to let Tim Pot, communist dictators, send rapists into our country, send drugs into our country, send weapons into our country, and we're not going to let a country fall into the hands of our adversaries. The future of Venezuela, working with America, is going to be so bright and so incredible

and so positive, and we'll have a conversation about everything that you raised. But the priority right now, as the president has made clear, is a judicious, thoughtful, careful transition process to secure a great future for Venezuela and to secure a great future for America. Let's just take a moment and just acknowledge, Jake, that what we've witnessed under President Trump's leadership this last week is one of the greatest foreign policy and military victories

this country has ever had.

Stephen Miller, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. A lot there to discuss.