The Trump White House launched a counterattack after a cohost on ABC’s “The View” called the raid that removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from Caracas “piracy.”
Maduro was seized from his home during a Saturday evening operation and flown out of the country with Flores, a high-stakes move that instantly detonated controversy across political and media circles.
Within days, the fallout spilled into a New York City courtroom, where Maduro entered a “not guilty” plea on Monday as federal charges were formally read.
Those charges include “narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States,” placing the arrest at the center of national security and law enforcement debates.
I HAVE OBTAINED CLEAR FOOTAGE‼️ (Minutes ago) Pay close attention to the expression on the face of Nicolás Maduro as they perp-walk him!
I still don’t think it has set in yet that he may never see the outside of a cell again.
Just a few short days ago he and his wife were the… pic.twitter.com/LZjsUhFLrs
— Matt Wallace (@MattWallace888) January 5, 2026
“The View’s” panel quickly turned the operation into their Monday broadcast’s focal point, with cohost Sunny Hostin leading the charge against the president.
Hostin denounced the extraction as unlawful on Monday’s broadcast, repeatedly attacking the administration for acting without congressional authorization.
“International law doesn’t allow it unless Congress declares war, and Congress did not do that. This country was founded on the balance of power. You have checks and balances, co-equal branches of power,” Hostin argued on air while challenging Trump’s authority.
Sunny Hostin on The View says President Trump ousting Maduro wasn’t legal.
That’s how you know it was legal.pic.twitter.com/Gjmx3HM2SB
— Paul A. Szypula 🇺🇸 (@Bubblebathgirl) January 5, 2026
Her criticism escalated as she portrayed the operation as reckless and historically dangerous.
“This president is doing whatever the heck he wants, without any checks or balances,” Hostin ranted.
“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. It just doesn’t work, and in my view, this is completely, 100 percent illegal.”
The tone of the conversation shifted when Ana Navarro, a Republican who opposes Trump, openly celebrated Maduro’s arrest despite her cohost’s concerns.
Navarro framed the moment as deeply personal for Venezuelans and Cuban Americans, particularly those living in south Florida.
“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 25 years, when we see him in handcuffs and held to some sort of accountability, it brought me to tears,” Navarro told the panel. “It brought me great joy.”
Hostin immediately pressed Navarro on whether celebration meant approval of how the mission unfolded.
“Are you ok with the way it was done?” Hostin asked during the show.
Navarro pushed back, insisting that moral satisfaction and skepticism could exist side by side.
“I think both things could be true,” Navarro responded. “I think you could criticize and ask question and have concerns about the way it was done and what this means in the future and i think you can still celebrate that this murderous corrupt sadistic son of a b**** is out of Venezuela.”
Cohost Whoopi Goldberg chimed in to questioned the legitimacy of the decision itself. “Who voted for this?” she asked.
Navarro pointed to specific communities she argued had long demanded accountability for Maduro.
“The people of South Florida, the Venezuelan community, the Cuban American community, the Nicaraguan American community voted for this,” Navarro replied.
She reiterated the emotional impact of seeing Maduro taken into custody.
“And 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 25 years,” Navarro added.
I had to watch this twice to make sure it was real. 😱
The View’s Ana Navarro:
“For us, this is a very happy day when we see a dictator who has been part of oppressing and abusing the Venezuelan people for 25 years. When we see him in handcuffs and held to some sort of… pic.twitter.com/2gmRX3Mc3i
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) January 5, 2026
Even while praising Maduro’s removal, Navarro questioned the motivations behind Trump’s decision, casting the operation as self-serving rather than humanitarian.
“I don’t think this is at all about the Venezuelan people,” Navarro claimed, adding that “Donald Trump doesn’t give a damn about the Venezuelan people.”
Her criticism extended to the administration’s drug enforcement record.
“I don’t think Donald Trump gives a damn about drugs. If he did, he would not have pardoned the former president of Honduras, who was serving 45 years in federal prison for having brought 400 tons of cocaine into the United States,” Navarro continued. “I think this is a lot about Donald Trump’s ego.”
Hostin directed the discussion toward Venezuela’s natural resources, suggesting oil was the real driver behind the operation.
She argued that the country’s energy reserves had long been the unspoken focus of Trump administration rhetoric.
“The thing that’s interesting to me is Venezuela owns 20% of the world’s oil. More than Saudi Arabia,” Hostin said while questioning the administration’s public messaging.
She contrasted Trump’s repeated references to drugs with the details laid out in the indictment.
“And Trump for months, we’ve been saying at this table, ‘This is about the oil,’ but for months Trump was saying, ‘This is about narco-terrorism,” she continued.
“This is about drugs being brought to this country.’ When you look at the indictment, it’s about drugs being brought to this country,”
Hostin then raised alarms about the global precedent she believed the operation could set.
“Isn’t anyone concerned about the fact that what we’re doing is almost piracy? It’s like imperialism,” she asked.
“We’re going to another country, and we’re taking their natural resources for ourselves and on top of it, if we can do something like this, who is to say that Vladimir Putin, then, doesn’t go to Ukraine and arrest Zelenskyy?”
As criticism mounted on daytime television, the White House issued a pointed response defending the operation and blasting the panel’s outrage.
Spokesperson Anna Kelly delivered a statement highlighting the administration’s position on Maduro’s legitimacy.
Kelly told Entertainment Weekly that “over 60 countries around the world held that Nicolás Maduro was an illegitimate ruler,” while also pointing out that previous administrations had pursued his arrest.
She referenced an existing incentive tied to Maduro’s capture, stating that “the Biden administration had a reward for information leading to his arrest,” a reported $25 million offer announced in January 2025.
“Only President Trump had the strength and courage to actually arrest Maduro for committing narcoterrorism against the United States,” the statement asserted.
“Liberal pundits will flip-flop on anything even holding criminal drug lords accountable in order to attack President Trump, but the President will always protect our homeland and put the American people first,” she concluded.
Watch the full episode here: