Secretary of State Marco Rubio rebuked ABC reporter Brennan for questioning the Trump administration's capture of only Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during an interview clip shared between 4:15 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. UTC on January 4, 2026. Rubio responded, "You're confused? You're gonna go in & suck up 5 more people?" Brennan stated the regime remains in place with its chief thug, who controls the police and has a $25 million U.S. bounty, still free and in power, according to the clip posted on X during the 29-minute reporting window ending at 4:45 p.m. UTC. Rubio described the regime as still intact. An OSINT account shared January 3 satellite imagery showing the USS Gerald R. Ford positioned north of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea, including its current location for verification, per an X post in the reporting window. This exchange follows the U.S. military capture of Maduro earlier on January 4, with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assuming leadership as government forces retained security control, according to prior MenaLive reports. Rubio previously stated on ABC's This Week this morning that U.S. naval forces can seize sanctioned Venezuelan oil ships.
