Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) made a direct comparison between President Donald Trump and the recently-extradited Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, saying that both had attempted to seize “illegitimate” power, but that Maduro had been “successful.”

Crockett made the comments during a Tuesday appearance on ABC’s “The View,” where she claimed that the Trump administration’s move to arrest and extradite Maduro had been “illegal” and claimed the president did not care about what happened to the Venezuelan people.

“When he went in to get Maduro, he killed even more Venezuelans – this ain’t about Venezuelans! I get that there are people that don’t like the leader. But guess what, there are a lot of people that don’t like our leader! And — and — regardless, somebody coming into the United States and grabbing our leader in the middle of the night and killing people in this country, I’m sure everybody would be outraged at them doing it that way.”

“But nobody stops [Trump],” Joy Behar complained.

“I’m trying, Joy,” Crockett said.

WATCH:

Crockett doubles down and says Trump wants to be the Maduro of the United States:
“Everyone wants to talk about how Maduro was illegitimate. As we sit here on January 6th, I do want to be clear, somebody else was trying to be a Maduro of the United States. Somebody else wanted to… pic.twitter.com/zQHjBICTkg

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) January 6, 2026

“I do want to just say this,” Crockett continued. “Everyone wants to talk about how Maduro was illegitimate. As we sit here on January 6th, I do want to be clear, somebody else was trying to be a Maduro of the United States. Somebody else wanted to do the exact same thing. The difference is Maduro was successful.”

Crockett then claimed that Trump’s support of redistricting in states like Texas — where duly-elected representatives of the people had voted to adopt new maps — was concrete proof that the president “doesn’t believe in free and fair elections.”

Plain-clothes gunmen deployed by Venezuela’s leaders are walking the streets and stopping vehicles as they crack down on dissent and pro-American sentiment in the wake of the capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.

The paramilitary members, known as Colectivos, were out in full force on Tuesday as the pro-Maduro regime seeks to maintain control of the country following the surprise U.S. strikes over the weekend, The Guardian reported. Men armed with rifles set up checkpoints in the capital city of Caracas, where they stopped drivers to search their vehicles, phones, and personal belongings, looking for any evidence of support for the United States capturing Maduro, according to The Telegraph.

Police, meanwhile, were instructed to “immediately begin the national search and capture of everyone involved in the promotion or support for the armed attack by the United States.”

One Caracas resident, Mirelvis Escalona, told The Guardian that anyone who is suspected of supporting the United States could be arrested. The Colectivos are reportedly targeting neighborhoods known to be home to those who support the opposition to Venezuela’s current government.

“There’s fear. There are armed civilians here,” said Escalona. “You never know what might happen, they might attack people.”

On Monday, 14 journalists, mostly foreign correspondents, were detained by Venezuelan authorities in Caracas before all of them except one were later released. Two people in western Venezuela were arrested after they celebrated the capture of Maduro, NBC News reported.

“The suspects were shouting slogans against the government, celebrating the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, offending PSUV militants in the neighborhood, and inciting violence, in addition to firing shots,” according to police. Pro-Maduro Venezuelans, meanwhile, marched on the streets of Caracas on Tuesday in support of their captured leader and his wife.

The large-scale crackdown on anti-Maduro sentiment comes as President Donald Trump urges the Venezuelan government to cooperate with the United States.

“If they don’t behave, we will do a second strike,” Trump said on Sunday.

After Maduro’s capture, Trump said that the United States would assume control of Venezuela until a transition could safely take place. Venezuela is now led by interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and also worked under Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez. Trump said that Rodríguez would “pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she refuses to cooperate with America’s demands. Since taking over, Rodríguez has condemned the U.S. operation to capture Maduro and has claimed that Maduro remains the rightful leader of Venezuela.

While the Trump administration says it’s prepared to apply pressure on Rodríguez, the pro-Maduro regime appears unlikely to give up power anytime soon.

María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and most recent Nobel Peace Prize winner, told Fox News that Rodríguez represents the same threat to Venezuelans as Maduro.

“Delcy Rodriguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco trafficking,” Machado said. “She’s the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual that could be trusted by international investors. And she’s really rejected, repudiated by the Venezuelan people.”