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

"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.

"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."

"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?"

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."

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."