“The president has authorized a counter-drug mission in the region,” Rubio told Hannity. “The fact that Maduro is upset about it tells you that drugs are coming out of Venezuela.

He later categorized Maduro’s government, which reportedly altered results from Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election to appear as the victor and failed to relinquish power, as “illegitimate.”

“The Maduro regime is not a legitimate government,” Rubio said to Hannity in an exclusive interview on Tuesday night. “What it is is a transshipment organization. It allows cocaine and other drugs that are produced in Colombia to be trafficked through Venezuelan territory and, with the cooperation of elements of the regime, are allowed to … leave Venezuela on airplanes and ships headed towards the United States.”

Rubio’s comments come as President Donald Trump is embroiled in controversy over his orders for the military to target suspected Venezuelan drug-trafficking boats. The president has ordered 21 strikes against such vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, resulting in 83 deaths. In November, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth formally declared U.S. efforts to protect the Western Hemisphere from “narcoterrorists” and drug traffickers as “Operation Southern Spear.”

Hegseth has been under fire this week stemming from the revelation that during a military strike on a suspected drug-trafficking boat on Sept. 2, two survivors were killed when the military ordered a second strike after the vessel was already destroyed. Critics have argued that rescue efforts should have been utilized instead of orders for a second strike. 

“So they openly cooperate with the drug dealers. In addition to that, the Venezuelan regime is a source of instability in the entire region,” said Rubio. “Over eight million Venezuelans have flooded into neighboring countries as a result of the regime’s activities within their own country, including into the United States.” 

“They also happen to be a foothold of Iran, that’s not spoken about enough. Iran, IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), and even Hezbollah, has a presence in South America, and one of their anchor presence, especially for the Iranians, is inside of Venezuela,” the secretary of state said. “So we just finished talking about Iran and the hostility has toward the United States, where they have planted their flag in our hemisphere is on Venezeulan territory, with the full and open cooperation of that regime.”

“So, the fact that Maduro feels threatened by the presence of U.S. assets in the region on a counter-drug mission, it proves that he’s into the drug business,” Rubio added.

He also cited a grand jury indictment in the Southern District of New York in 2020, about Maduro’s drug trafficking efforts. He said the indictment has faded from memory, but nevertheless, is still proof of Maduro’s wrongdoing. 

“And by the way, it’s not me saying it. I’m not just making this up,” Rubio said. “This was an indictment that came out of the Southern District of New York back in 2020. It was undisputed.”

“Until the president decided to do something about it, no one disputed that Maduro was in the drug trafficking business,” Rubio said. “No one. Now that he’s doing something about it, you have all these people on the Left, and others, that are coming out saying, ‘it’s not true’ and ‘it hasn’t been proven.’”

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“We have an indictment, by a grand jury, not by politicians, by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York, that indicted him and a bunch of people in the regime,” Rubio added. 

“So, that’s what’s important to point out here,” Rubio said.