'Don't you want to know?' CNN host grills GOP rep over Trump's lack of plan for Venezuela

An interview between CNN host Brianna Keilar and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) grew contentious when Van Orden was asked to defend President Donald Trump's lack of clear details about his long-term plans for Venezuela.

Keilar began the Thursday segment by playing a clip of Van Orden criticizing then-President Joe Biden's lack of "metrics" for U.S. support of Ukraine in its war with Russia. She then pressed the Wisconsin Republican on whether he feels the same way about the Trump administration's handling of affairs in Venezuela after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro.

"Elections are are not a priority for this administration," Keilar said. "This is the Maduro regime, minus Maduro in charge here. Do you think that you have those metrics that are so important to you for risking American blood and treasure in Venezuela?"

"Well, that's exactly why I do not want to have uniform members of the United States military conducting ground combat operations in Venezuela," he said. "... So I stand by everything I just said. We just have to understand that this is a much more nuanced thing than people think about. And that's why I can't give you a timeline, because I don't know how intricate the entire problem set is going to be."

Keilar reminded Van Orden — who is a retired Navy SEAL – that the Trump administration is relying on U.S. Special Forces to do the bulk of the legwork in Venezuela in the wake of Maduro's ouster. She then asked whether it was "imprudent to dismiss the possibility that U.S. military could be operating and getting injured, as they just did in Venezuela."

"As a special operations guy, I don't view a raid as an invasion" Van Orden countered. "... It is not a sustained combat operation. You get in, you get your business done, you leave. And that's exactly what took place in Venezuela. And I'm unaware of any plans of putting uniformed military personnel to conduct sustained combat operations in Venezuela. I'm absolutely unaware of any of that taking place. And again, like I said, I don't support it."

"Okay, but there weren't plans for boots on the ground in ukraine, and you were very consistently demanding timeline and metrics for that," Keilar said.

"The answer to that is yes," said Van Orden.

"Okay. So then don't you want to know metrics and timeline you're talking about here?" The CNN host asked. "The U.S. being in charge of Venezuela as the president is describing it, for a long time, that he is not even committing to what that length would be. But you don't have metrics. You don't have a timeline. Why don't you want those things?"

"Well, actually, you and I are violently agreeing, so I do want those things," the Wisconsin Republican said. "I want a timeline, I want metrics, I want to know what the cost is going to be to the American taxpayers, if any, if we can offset that cost by selling Venezuelan oil. We're saying exactly the same thing in a different manner."

"How do you want to get that from the administration? How are you demanding that?" Keilar said.

"Well, we need to work with the Department of State, primarily the Department of War, if they're going to be conducting any type of security operations," Van Orden said, using the Trump administration's chosen term for the Department of Defense.

"But we need to look at this holistically, and we need to not rush into things. So we cannot rush into failure," he added. "... So we're not going to do that anymore. And how you don't get involved in these protracted, sustained ground combat operations is you just don't. And you have a plan. You have a metric. You figure out when you're going to leave before you get in."

"Is it clear to you that the the White House has a plan for how to get out of this?" Keilar asked Van Orden. "When the president just said he doesn't have a plan for when this is over?"

"It is absolutely Clear to me that Donald Trump and Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth know exactly what the heck they're doing," the congressman said.

Watch the segment below:

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