Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy offered a candid admission on Sunday, saying she and others may have been overly optimistic about President Donald Trump’s true motivations in Venezuela, arguing that only free elections in the country would ultimately reveal the administration’s real purpose.
Campos-Duffy, who is married to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, made the comments on Fox & Friends Weekend, explaining that she had believed removing Venezuela’s leader would pave the way for citizens to break free from communist rule and eventually choose their own government.
“On the other hand, there’s a lot of people maybe, and myself included, call me Pollyanna, call me an idealist – maybe I was a little too naive here – I thought the primary purpose of taking out Nicolas Maduro was because he was a communist dictator and we were actually going to allow the Venezuelan people-” Campos-Duffy began.
Co-host Charlie Hurt jumped in with “Federal charges,” to which Campos-Duffy responded, “Exactly. There was that. But also that we were going to liberate the Venezuelan people from their oppressors.”
Her remarks came as she weighed in on the Trump administration’s newly announced deal with Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, who previously served as Maduro’s vice president. Trump touted the agreement Friday as “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY,” saying it hands Washington majority control over more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves.
Despite the scale of the deal, Campos-Duffy took aim at Rodríguez, describing her as both a communist and “part of the old regime.”
“I think in Venezuela the reviews on this are very mixed, mostly negative, among them. Not because they’re not happy about the potential economic upsides, but they don’t trust Delcy Rodriguez,” she said.
She continued, “And I think that the president [Donald Trump] and [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio, until these elections happen, there will be a lot of questions not just in Venezuela, but in all of Latin America. And those who care about Latin America and freedom in Latin America, until there are elections, there will be a lot of questions about motivations here and whether the interests of the Venezuelan people are at hand.”
Still, Campos-Duffy defended the economic merits of the arrangement, noting, “That doesn’t mean that this deal is not, you know, good for America, it doesn’t mean that in the future it might, the Venezuelan people might very greatly benefit from it, but the will of the people is still not in place.”
Looking ahead, Campos-Duffy predicted that Venezuela’s exiled opposition leader would come out on top if elections were held today.
“And I think if that election were to take place today, I do believe Maria Corina Machado would be in charge,” she said.
[READ MORE: New York AG Lawyer Says Office Targeted Trump Allies, Then Looked for Crimes]
