Vice President Mike Pence criticized Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar’s comments on Venezuela during an appearance on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” Friday.
“The congresswoman doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” Pence said. “Nicolas Maduro is a socialist dictator who has taken what was once one of the most prosperous nations in this hemisphere and brought it literally to a level of deprivation and oppression and poverty that we have never seen.”
Pence emphasized that the Trump administration supports Interim President Juan Guaido and Venezuelans seeking freedom from the repressive Maduro regime. (RELATED: REPORT: Ocasio-Cortez Dodges Question On Venezuela Crisis)
“Nicolas Maduro has no legitimate claim to power and Nicolas Maduro must go,” Pence said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way President Trump directed our administration to be the first nation on Earth to recognize Juan Guaido as the legitimate president of Venezuela.”
The vice president’s comments came after Omar was criticized for saying earlier this week that the U.S. is responsible for the outbreak of violence and poverty in Venezuela. (RELATED: Protesters Surround Venezuelan Embassy In Washington D.C.)
“You know, I mean, a lot of the policies that we have put in place has kind of helped lead the devastation in Venezuela,” Omar said at the time on the progressive show “Democracy Now!”
“We’ve sort of set the stage for where we’re arriving today,” she continued.
An outbreak of chaos and violence occurred in Venezuela on Tuesday after Guaido called for an uprising against Maduro. Maduro has accused the U.S. of leading a “coup” to oust him.