Tom Cotton: “Today is a great day in America. Nicolas Maduro--an indicted drug trafficker, an illegitimate communist dictator who has…”

“Today is a great day in America. Nicolas Maduro--an indicted drug trafficker, an illegitimate communist dictator who has the blood of hundreds of Arkansans and thousands of Americans on his hands--is behind bars in a prison in New York. Again, he was an illegitimate communist dictator, in league with all of America's enemies around the world. With the Venezuelan people crushed underneath his iron fist for years, Maduro turned the country into a crossroads and a playground for the likes of communist China, Cuba, Iran, Russia, and even Islamic terrorists like Hezbollah. I want to take this opportunity to commend the exceptional skill and bravery of our troops, CIA officers, and FBI agents for executing such an amazing military and intelligence operation that brought Maduro's reign to an abrupt end. It is impossible to overstate the complexity of this mission. But for our troops and our intelligence officers--whose skill, professionalism, and bravery are unmatched in the world-- 'impossible' isn't in their vocabulary. I also commend President Trump for having the courage to take bold, decisive, and audacious action against Nicolas Maduro. This action was well within the President's constitutional authority. The operation was in keeping with President Bush's operation to arrest the drug lord and Panamanian President Manuel Noriega, in 1989. If anything, Maduro was much worse than Noriega, and Venezuela now is even more vital strategically than Panama was then.”