CBS News’ Margaret Brennan is facing criticism after she aggressively grilled Secretary of State Marco Rubio about why the daring operation that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro did not target other members of the Venezuelan government for arrest. 

It’s the latest bias incident involving Ms. Brennan and “Face the Nation,” the program she hosts. She’s been dogged by allegations of bias since she co-hosted the vice presidential debate in 2024 and aggressively fact-checked Vice President Vance despite a prior commitment not to do so. 

Mr. Rubio appeared on “Face the Nation” on Sunday to discuss the operation that led to the capture of Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. 

Ms. Brennan peppered Mr. Rubio with questions about the legality of the operation and President Trump’s assertion that America will “run” Venezuela until there can be a “safe” transition of power.” She noted that the American government is offering a $15 million reward for information that leads to the arrest of Venezuela’s defense minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, and a $25 million reward for information that leads to the arrest of the head of the police, Diosdado Cabello Rondon.

“I’m confused. Are they still wanted by the United States? Why didn’t you arrest them if you are taking out the narco-terrorist regime?” she asked.

Mr. Rubio shot back, “You’re confused? I don’t know why that’s confusing to you … You’re going to go in and suck up five people? They’re already complaining about this one operation. Imagine the howls we would have from everybody else if we actually had to go and stay there for four days to capture four other people.”

“We got the top priority,” he said. “The No. 1 person on the list was the guy who claimed to be the president of the country that he was not. And he was arrested along with his wife, who’s also indicted.”

He touted the success of the “sophisticated operation” in Venezuela.

“It is not easy to land helicopters in the middle of the largest military base in the country … Land, within three minutes, kick down his door, grab him, put him in handcuffs, read him his rights, put him in a helicopter, and leave the country without losing any American or any American assets. That’s not an easy mission. And you’re asking me why we didn’t do that in five different places at the same time, that’s absurd,” he said.  

Ms. Brennan also pressed Mr. Rubio on whether American officials are working on a transition to hand power to Edmundo Gonzalez, whom he has previously called the “rightful president” of Venezuela, and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. The secretary declined to make definitive statements about the future of Venezuela, other than to say that if the Venezuelan government does not make the “right decision,” America will “retain multiple levers of leverage to ensure that our interests are protected.”

A former Trump White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, shared the clip on X and wrote, “Hey @bariweiss – your Sunday show host is confused. Maybe time for someone who isn’t.”

The editor of the Spectator, Benjamin Domenech, wrote, “Margaret Brennan may not be the most biased Sunday morning host (that’s obviously George), but she has a hard perennial lock on dumbest. Rubio has to hold back laughter.”

“How does @margbrennan keep her job?  Now that the nightly news is fixed on CBS, fix @FaceTheNation with a competent individual,” another user said. 

A Rhode Island state lawmaker, Brian Newberry, wrote, “Margaret Brennan proves herself a partisan hack idiot masquerading as a ‘journalist’ on a weekly basis. Face the Nation deserves a better host.”

A senior counsel for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, Leo Terrell, wrote, “CBS, PLEASE HIRE A NON-DEI REPORTER.  @SecRubio  embarrassed her today on National Television! @realDonaldTrump.”

Ms. Brennan has repeatedly sparred with Mr. Rubio over the last year. In February, Mr. Rubio called her out for an inaccurate “reflection of history” after she said that the Nazis “weaponized” free speech to carry out the Holocaust. In August, Mr. Rubio accused her of promoting a “stupid media bias” by asking about “concerns” that Mr. Trump would try to bully the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, into accepting concessions as part of a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Mr. Trump has called Ms. Brennan “nasty.” In an interview with the Daily Caller in August, he said she is “so bad.” Meanwhile, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said, “She’s stupid.”

The criticism of Ms. Brennan comes as CBS News’ management says it wants to rebuild Americans’ trust in the media. Skydance Media, which owns CBS’s corporate parent, also made written commitments to fair journalism. Monday evening, CBS News is premiering its revamped “Evening News” with a new host, Tony Dokoupil, who promised viewers in a promo that he would not be biased.

However, the network has continued to receive criticism as “60 Minutes” has run several stories critical of Mr. Trump since Skydance acquired CBS.

In a post on Truth Social last month, Mr. Trump said, “For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover,’ than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies!”

CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.