WATCH: Sen. Paul presses Rubio to explain why ousting Maduro is not an act of war

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., pressed Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a congressional hearing Wednesday on why the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro should not be considered an act of war.

Watch the clip in the player above.

He added: “If a foreign country bombed our air defense missiles, captured and removed our president, and besieged our country, would that be considered an act of war?” Paul asked.

“We do not believe this operation comes anywhere close to the constitutional definition of war,” Rubio said, defending the Trump administration’s argument for not defining the operation, which lasted a few hours, as an act of war.

“But would it be an act of war if someone did that to us?” The Republican senator responded. “Of course that would be an act of war.”

“I think we need to at least acknowledge that this is a one-way argument,” Paul added.

Watch live: Machado urges American leaders to push for a democratic government in Venezuela

The Republican senator later agreed with Rubio that the United States should act in its national interests, but added that some of the administration’s arguments regarding military operations against Venezuela – especially those related to drug seizures – are “empty.”

“The drug arrest is not really an argument. It’s a hoax. The war argument — it’s not a war, it’s a war — is a hoax. It’s not a real argument,” Paul said. “We do what we do because we have power, we have power.”

“We are doing this because it is in our interest,” he added. “So we will not allow anyone to come in and bomb us, blockade us, and take our president.”

Rubio testified before a Senate committee on Wednesday for the first time since Maduro’s ouster.

President Donald Trump, who said the United States would “run” Venezuela, ordered the US military to control Venezuelan oil exports and seize multiple tankers. The Trump administration has carried out dozens of strikes since last year against a series of alleged drug smuggling boats near Venezuela, killing at least 126 people. Little evidence was provided that these were “narco-terrorists.”

Concerned about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela, some members of Congress have tried to push a war powers resolution to curb Trump’s authority to take further military action in the country. These efforts ultimately failed without sufficient Republican support.