Sunny Hostin calls Maduro capture a 'kidnapping,' accuses US of 'piracy'

06 Jan 2026 By foxnews

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin condemned the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as a "kidnapping," comparing recent United States policy in the region to piracy.

The U.S. military and intelligence agencies worked together over the weekend to capture Maduro, in a mission called "Operation Absolute Resolve." While Maduro's reign was controversial, and was viewed by many as a far-left dictatorship, critics accused the Trump administration of overstepping its authority.

"It's not legal because it violates international law, right?" Hostin said, claiming that "the U.S. government killed over 100 people, including civilians and military in Venezuela during this kidnapping and capture, and international law doesn't allow it unless Congress declares war, and Congress did not do that."

"So this country was founded on the premise of the balance of power, right?" she continued. "So you have a [sic] checks and balances. So you have co-equal powers - co-equal branches of power. So you have the judicial branch, and then you have the executive branch, which the president is a part of, and then you have, of course, the legislative branch, and that's Congress, and they are supposed to check each other. This president is doing whatever the heck he wants without any checks or balances, 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, completely, 100% illegal."

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Later in the episode, Hostin argued that oil was the key incentive for the operation, and she compared the Trump administration's policy in the region to piracy.

"The thing that's interesting to me is Venezuela - I don't think a lot of people know - owns 20% of the world's oil. More than Saudi Arabia. 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. This is about drugs being brought to this country.' When you look at the indictment, it's about drugs being brought to this country."

She then went on to ask, "Isn't anyone concerned about the fact that what we're doing is almost piracy? It's like imperialism. 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?"

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While co-host Ana Navarro also criticized the Trump administration, doubting its motivations, she said this indeed was the will of many people in South Florida, particularly the Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and Cuban diaspora in America.

"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. It brought me great joy."

"I think both things can be true," she said about her mixed feelings about the successful operation. "I think you can criticize and ask questions 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 because he has, I think, 8 million Venezuelan exiles all over the world. People have fled from this man's tyrannical rule."

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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House, who responded to Hostin's criticism.

"Over 60 countries around the world held that Nicolas Maduro was an illegitimate ruler, and the Biden administration had a reward for information leading to his arrest. Only President Trump had the strength and courage to actually arrest Maduro for committing narco-terrorism against the United States," a White House spokesperson said. "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."