Benjamin L. Cardin: “First, Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding this hearing.”

You have found the Achilles hill of the Putin regime. They rape, torture and kill with impunity and keep their ill-gotten gains in the West.

I think it is absolutely essential that we be very clear that Maduro was not elected as president of Venezuela.

We think the United States has to work with our partners in South America to make it clear that that was not an election where Maduro won.

Nowhere has this been more on display than what has occurred in Hong Kong in recent years as the passage of the National Security Law and entry into force of Article 23 destroyed what remains of Hong Kong's democracy.