Venezuelan-born PragerU commentator Franklin Camargo shot back at Democrats during a Wednesday hearing on the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro, calling him an “evil narcoterrorist who committed crimes against Americans.”
The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, chaired by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NY), gathered witnesses for a hearing dubbed “The Legal Basis for Action Against Venezuelan Drug Traffickers.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Oversight Subcommittee Ranking Member Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) were loud with their opposition to the Trump administration’s January arrest of Maduro and his wife in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
“We could be investigating real drug traffickers and prosecuting more drug cases, but Secretary of War Hegseth needs his clicks, and so we continue bumbling down this reckless, inexplicable and counterproductive path,” Raskin said of the military operation that successfully took the Venezuelan dictator into custody.
It was not “just a crime,” the congressman said, but also a “mistake.”
In Crockett’s opening remarks, she accused President Donald Trump of “invad[ing] a sovereign nation and kidnapp[ing]its leader.”
“Now I don’t want y’all to get it twisted and believe for any reason that I think Maduro is a saint, but there are processes,” the Texas Democrat continued, adding that “Donald Trump does not care about the Venezuelan people.”
Downplaying the Maduro regime’s responsibility for grave human rights violations, Crockett went on to say that it is clear that the disgraced dictator “is a wrong guy, and he may have even been illegally in power, but the idea that you would meet illegality with further illegality does not necessarily make [his capture] a right.”
In his opening statement, Camargo shared how his family’s life back in Venezuela helped shape his opinion on the U.S.’s actions to capture the leader after charging him in 2020 with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, weapons offenses, and more.
“Thank you for your invitation to share my experience and offer my thoughts on recent American action against Venezuelan criminals. One of those criminals once accused me of being a terrorist, but today, the real terrorist, Nicolas Maduro, is behind bars,” the PragerU personality said.
“I was born in Venezuela and soon experienced the failures of socialism. When I spoke out, I was accused of terrorism under a so-called law against hatred. I could have been thrown in jail for as many as 20 years,” he continued. “I escaped, but my family wasn’t so lucky.”
According to Camargo, one of his cousins was tortured and imprisoned by the Maduro regime for more than two years for his political activism.
Referencing President Ronald Reagan’s characterization of the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” he argued that it is important to use that language to refer to the Venezuelan dictatorship today.
“Maduro was not simply a bad person or a wrong leader,” Camargo said, appearing to respond to Crockett’s argument. “He’s an evil narcoterrorist who committed crimes against Americans.”
“There are some here today who can testify to the legality of operation, absolute resolve. I want to testify to its necessity,” he added.
When the other members of the subcommittee began speaking, Camargo faced a hostile line of questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).
“Tell me Mr. Camargo, upon what facts do you conclude that President Maduro was a drug dealer?” he asked.
Camargo began to reply, “Federal indictments, the testimonies—”
Johnson cut him off, saying, “An indictment is not proof, it’s just an allegation.”
“Sure,” Camargo continued, before being cut off again.
“What other facts do you have?” Johnson asked.
When Camargo cited reports from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on the Cártel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) operating under the Maduro regime, he was again interrupted by the Georgia Democrat.
“And how do you connect that to Nicolás Maduro?”
The PragerU commentator began to reply, saying, “So it’s a totalitarian regime where he controls every single thing in the country—”
Johnson butted in, saying, “What you’re doing is you’re coming in here spouting off conclusions, conclusions that you’ve heard, which built a nice little narrative—”
This time, Camargo cut him off.
“Do you know who Hugo Carvajal is?” he asked, referring to the convicted narcoterrorist and former Venezuelan military general who was once one of the most powerful men in the Maduro regime.
Johnson refused to answer, instead saying, “I’m going to move on” and switching his focus to other witnesses.
Later in the hearing while he was questioning another witness, Johnson briefly turned to Camargo and said it is “ironic” that he would be at the hearing to “protest what happened in that country when the same thing is happening in this country.”
Again, Johnson did not allow Camargo to answer.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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