Husted, Brown greatly differ on Venezuela, Greenland

U.S. Sen. Jon Husted and former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, his Democratic challenger in the November election, have greatly differing opinions on President Donald Trump's decisions in Venezuela and interest in acquiring Greenland.Trump, a Republican, authorized the Jan. 3 capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and his wife from their home to face narco-terrorism charges. Trump said the United States may head up Venezuela for years and use the country's oil to rebuild the South American nation.Trump also has discussed the purchase of Greenland, which is owned by Denmark, saying it is because of national security issues. Denmark has no interest in selling the world's biggest island with Secretary of State Marco Rubio meeting Wednesday with Denmark officials. Trump has declined to rule out military action to take Greenland.Husted, a Republican who has spent the last year in the U.S. Senate, said: "When you remove an illegitimate, criminal dictator, you have the chance that it will devolve into chaos. That didn't happen. They worked with the (Venezuelan) vice president to form what they're calling an administrative authority to restore stability to Venezuela and help it with its near financial collapse that is pending right now by helping it sell oil on the international market at better prices than they were getting selling it illicitly. They are going to create some economic stability, some political stability. They're doing it without troops on the ground and eliminating the narco-terrorists as a result of this."Husted said if all goes well, the United States "will take an adversary in our own hemisphere with alliances with China and Russia and turn it into a democratic ally in our own hemisphere. There's a lot of work to do, but that is a good outcome if all of those things occur."Brown, a Democrat who spent 18 years in the Senate before losing reelection in 2024 and is looking to return to the upper chamber, said: "I heard the president of the United States say, 'We will now run Venezuela.' That hasn't worked with Iraq and it hasn't worked with other countries. You know my history on the war in Iraq and standing up to presidents in both parties — whether it's (Bill) Clinton with NAFTA or (George W.) Bush with the war in Iraq. In Iraq, it cost American lives and cost trillions, certainly hundreds of billions of dollars with no real positive outcome."Speaking after capturing Maduro, Trump said of Venezuela, "We're going to be running it with a group and we're going to make sure it's run properly."Brown said: "We don't want to run Venezuela. This government is not doing a good job of running things here."Rather than intervene in Venezuela, Brown asked "why aren't we instead working to bring prices down? Why aren't we instead making sure people keep their health insurance?"Husted points out Democrats wanted Maduro removed before Trump was elected. During the final days of Democrat Joe Biden's presidency, his administration offered a $25 million bounty for information leading to Maduro's arrest.Asked if he favored American troops in Venezuela, Husted said, "Like in anything else, I would need to know what the conditions are, but I believe that I'm not in favor of that, generally speaking. That's not been something we've been asked to consider. The president is not talking about having troops in Venezuela. It should be very clear there are no American troops in Venezuela."Trump said "very large United States oil companies" would "spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country."Husted said the United States is "helping to facilitate the sale of their oil to the international market at market rates and then ensuring that the money that comes from that does not go to support the illegitimate operations that occurred under Maduro and the money is going to be used for the economic benefit of the Venezuelan people." On GreenlandHusted, who visited with top Greenland officials last year, said they "recognize that we have a strategic interest in the Arctic — Denmark, Greenland and the United States have for our security purposes. China and Russia are becoming more and more aggressive and that makes all of our allies in the High North … very nervous."Husted said, "The United States having a bigger presence in Greenland makes sense from a strategic point of view. However, it needs to be done through diplomatic channels and I believe that Secretary Rubio is going to achieve that. We would benefit from just focusing on a diplomatic solution and not be more aggressive than that."Brown said: "We have no business going to Greenland, spending money in Greenland instead of dealing with problems we have here. I don't get this administration and Husted is with them every time. I don't get why Husted said we should be spending money in Venezuela and Greenland instead of spending money in the Mahoning Valley."