The absence of Vice President JD Vance in all the behind-the-scenes footage from Mar-a-Lago, when President Donald Trump gave his go-ahead to the US military to go inside Venezuela and capture Nicolas Maduro, inevitably put Marco Rubio ahead of JD Vance in the 2028 narrative. Commentators noted how Secretary of State Marco Rubio took the lead as Operation Absolute Resolve unfolded while Vance was missing from the scene. Many social media users lauded Rubio as the future president and also commented that JD Vance is not in the trusted circle of Trump. But sources close to Vance confirmed to Bloomberg that it was a strategic decision to keep the president and the vice president away, as both of their motorcades at Mar-a-Lago, and not in the White House, would have alerted Venezuelan intelligence that something was being planned from Mar-a-Lago. Vance and President Trump met at the president’s golf club in West Palm Beach Friday to go over the US’s plan to capture Nicolas Maduro from his compound. The Vice President was not at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night, as the National Security team was concerned a late-night motorcade movement by the Vice President while the operation was getting underway may tip off the Venezuelans. The Vice President joined by secure video conference throughout the night to monitor the operation. He returned to Cincinnati after the operation concluded. Due to increased security concerns, the Administration has aimed to limit the frequency and duration of the Vice President and President being co-located away from the White House, the report said. Vance issued a statement immediately after the attack and confirmed that Trump offered multiple off-ramps to Maduro on the condition that the drug trafficking has to be stopped. “Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says,” Vance said, adding that it was not illegal for the administration, as Maduro had multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism. “You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.”
