Navarro Confronts Hostin on Maduro Support: 'Return Him to Venezuela?'

Sparks flew on Friday’s (pre-recorded) episode of The View as ABC co-host Ana Navarro called out co-host Sunny Hostin for her support of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. All week, Hostin was proclaiming that America’s arrest of Maduro was “illegal” and “unlawful.” Since Navarro wasn’t on the show for most of the week, it was her first chance to counter, demanding to know if Hostin’s solution was to return the dictator to power.

The tension between Navarro and Hostin was simmering throughout their first Hot Topics segment.

The show was kicked off by Hostin and fill-in moderator Joy Behar suggesting there was some kind of cognitive dissidence between Republicans cheering Maduro’s arrest while opposing the idea of taking over Greenland (Click “expand”):

BEHAR: Also another question , why are they okay against Greenland but not about Venezuela?

HOSTIN: That was my question because, I mean, his comments were forceful. They were strong. You know, Greenland is not owned by the United States, nor should it be owned. It's not for sale.

BEHAR: Neither is Venezuela.

HOSTIN: Neither is Venezuela nor is its oil ours.

“I love you,” Navarro noted before ripping Hostin’s false equivalency between Venezuela and Greenland/Denmark. “But let's look at some facts,” she said. “Venezuela is a dictatorship. Greenland is not. Denmark is our ally. Greenland is our ally. We have military bases and operations in Greenland. Denmark is part of NATO as we are, so we are part of one big alliance. Venezuela is a place where they kill, jail, and torture the opposition, where they repress human rights.”

 

 

Navarro went on to make the point that they lose creditability by conflating the two, but Hostin wasn’t having it and started shouting:

NAVARRO: My point is we cannot make an equivalency between Greenland and Venezuela. So let's just not. We lose a point if we do that.

HOSTIN: No, we don't! The law is the law! It is an unlawful thing that we did in Venezuela and it would be unlawful for us to do it in Greenland.

The two clashed again when Hostin started screaming about the U.S. taking Venezuelan oil. Navarro shouted back that the Venezuelans wanted to sell the oil to America Because Maduro stole it. Their yelling drowned out the rest of the cast (Click “expand”):

HOSTIN: So you think it's okay that we took the oil?

FARAH GRIFFIN: If I could get in here just real quick

NAVARRO (to Hostin): Do I think it's okay? Venezuelans think it's okay that we're taking the oil because Maduro stole it.

HOSTIN: Do you think that's legal?!

BEHAR: Hey, guys.

NAVARRO: It doesn't matter.

HOSTIN: THE LAW DOESN'T MATTER!

NAVARRO: It’s already done! With what we have invested we have to make sure it is successful!

BEHAR: Hold on! Ana! We’re on television!

FARAH GRIFFIN: I'm eight months pregnant. Can we have a chance to speak?

 

 

Hostin couldn’t control her rage, even snapping at other co-hosts for making the point it was good that a murderous dictator was out of power. Possibly annoyed with getting sounded over earlier, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin made the point that so-called “international law” was unenforceable as Hostin wanted it:

HAINES: To me, again, I also am okay with the Venezuela -- maybe not how it was handled but I see the difference --

HOSTIN: Everybody's okay with breaking the law.

HAINES: No.

FARAH GRIFFIN: International law is only enforceable if it's enforced. We're not enforcing it in Ukraine.

Despite hearing the truth, Hostin was still whining about international law not being followed. Navarro, seemingly having had enough of her co-host, demanded to know if her solution was to just hit Maduro with a return to sender stamp and ship him back to Venezuela:

NAVARRO: Well Sunny, it's theoretical. We already plucked the guy out so right now we have invested billions of dollars and months

HOSTIN: So, we're just going to continue the crime?

NAVARRO: Well, what do you think should we do, return him to Venezuela? Return him? Is that what you think we should do?

Spinning her wheels, Hostin suggested, “he should be tried in the International Criminal Court. I don't think the United States has jurisdiction over him.”

 

 

Hostin’s suggested made no sense. Her argument all week was that the arrest itself was illegal; earlier in the segment she even called the arrest a “kidnapping.” After finally getting called out that the ultimate conclusion to what she was complaining about would lead to Maduro getting reinstalled as dictator, she had to quickly pivot. According to her own argument, the ICC couldn’t even try him because the arrest was “illegal.”

Clearly, Hostin was not used to getting serious pushback to her lunacy.

To twist the knife just a little bit, Farah Griffin chimed in just before the commercial to note that Hostin’s new idea was a terrible one too: “I don't think the International Criminal Court is consistent in how we prosecute crimes because Russia is still in Ukraine and nobody is holding them to any international standards! You see all over the world!”

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
January 9, 2026
11:03:16 a.m. Eastern

(…)

JOY BEHAR: So, will more Republicans speak out, or is that it?

SARA HAINES: I sure hope so.

BEHAR: Also another question , why are they okay against Greenland but not about Venezuela?

SUNNY HOSTIN: That was my question because, I mean, his comments were forceful. They were strong. You know, Greenland is not owned by the United States, nor should it be owned. It's not for sale.

BEHAR: Neither is Venezuela.

HOSTIN: Neither is Venezuela nor is its oil ours. Yet, we went in, we took the president – I called it a kidnapping because I believe that's what it is – and we took the head of state of Nicaragua -- not Nicaragua, sorry.

ANA NAVARRO: I wish.

HOSTIN: Venezuela and take the oil and are going to put the money -- I think they're going to put the money in offshore accounts. So how is that okay but Greenland isn't?

[Crosstalk]

NAVARRO: Okay. I love you but making a comparison between.

HOSTIN: I know you disagree. It's unlawful.

NAVARRO: But let's look at some facts. Venezuela is a dictatorship.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

NAVARRO: Greenland is not.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

NAVARRO: Denmark is our ally. Greenland is our ally. We have military bases and operations in Greenland. Denmark is part of NATO as we are, so we are part of one big alliance. Venezuela is a place where they kill, jail, and torture the opposition, where they repress human rights.

BEHAR: So is Russia! So is North Korea!

NAVARRO: Okay, yeah.

[Crosstalk]

My point is we cannot make an equivalency between Greenland and Venezuela. So let's just not. We lose a point if we do that.

HOSTIN: No, we don't! The law is the law! It is an unlawful thing that we did in Venezuela and it would be unlawful for us to do it in Greenland."

(…)

11:05:21 a.m. Eastern

NAVARRO: Here's my issue though, I don't consider the Venezuela mission accomplished or a victorious mission until every single political prisoner is released.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: And there's free and fair elections.

NAVARRO: Until there’s free and fair elections. Until there are no foreign hostages. Until there is democracy and freedom.

HOSTIN: So you think it's okay that we took the oil?

FARAH GRIFFIN: If I could get in here just real quick

NAVARRO (to Hostin): Do I think it's okay? Venezuelans think it's okay that we're taking the oil because Maduro stole it.

HOSTIN: Do you think that's legal?!

BEHAR: Hey, guys.

NAVARRO: It doesn't matter.

HOSTIN: THE LAW DOESN'T MATTER!

NAVARRO: It’s already done! With what we have invested we have to make sure it is successful!

BEHAR: Hold on! Ana! We’re on television!

FARAH GRIFFIN: I'm eight months pregnant. Can we have a chance to speak?

[Laughter]

(…)

11:07:44 a.m. Eastern

HAINES: To me, again, I also am okay with the Venezuela -- maybe not how it was handled but I see the difference --

HOSTIN: Everybody's okay with breaking the law.

HAINES: No.

FARAH GRIFFIN: International law is only enforceable if it's enforced. We're not enforcing it in Ukraine

[Crosstalk]

HAINES: As we’ve said all week here, two things can be true. We cannot like how it was handled but I do want a better life for the Venezuelans and everything that's happening there.

HOSTIN: I don’t think Trump cares about the Venezuelans!

HAINES: Greenland is an ally. And I think that Denmark is an ally and we do not betray our friends. That is what --

FARAH GRIFFIN: That is what China does. China bullies its friends. We don't do that.

NAVARRO: Let me put a pin in this, on the Venezuela issue. Look, I think the question of whether it was legal is a legitimate question and concern that should be debated and answered.

HAINES: Yes.

NAVARRO: But today as we sit here, January 8th it's already a moot point because it already happened and we picked the guy -

BEHAR: Today’s the 9th.

NAVARRO: So, we’re not going to – The 9th. It's already --

HOSTIN: The law should never be a moot point.

NAVARRO: Well Sunny, it's theoretical. We already plucked the guy out so right now we have invested billions of dollars and months

HOSTIN: So, we're just going to continue the crime?

NAVARRO: Well, what do you think should we do, return him to Venezuela? Return him? Is that what you think we should do?

HOSTIN: I think that he should be tried in the International Criminal Court. I don't think the United States has jurisdiction over him.

FARAH GRIFFIN: I don't think the International Criminal Court is consistent in how we prosecute crimes because Russia is still in Ukraine and nobody is holding them to any international standards! You see all over the world!

BEHAR: Trump will take Greenland, open a casino, and then bankrupt it. We'll be right back.