From PBS NewsHour.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before the Senate on Wednesday that stability is the No. 1 priority for the U.S. after its ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro.“

That’s the end state that we want: free, fair, prosperous and friendly Venezuela,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We’re not going to get there in three weeks. It’s going to take some time.

”Rubio testified before the Senate committee for the first time since Maduro was removed.

President Donald Trump, who said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela, has ordered the U.S. military to control exports of Venezuela’s oil and seize multiple tankers. The Trump administration has carried out dozens of strikes since last year against a series of alleged drug-trafficking boats near Venezuela, killing at least 126 people. It has offered little evidence that these were "narcoterrorists."

Worried about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela, some members of Congress attempted to push a war powers resolution to rein in Trump’s authority to carry out further military action in the country. Those efforts ultimately failed without sufficient Republican support.

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