Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back on criticism from Democrats about the military operation in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, specifically the argument that the administration should have sought approval from Congress.

"You can't risk it being disclosed," Rubio said Sunday on "Meet the Press."

He described it as a "trigger-based" operation.

"It couldn't require congressional approval because this was not an invasion. This was not an extended military operation. This was a very precise operation that involved a couple of hours of action. It was a very delicate operation too. It was one that required all these conditions to be in place at the right time and the right place. You couldn't afford leaks," Rubio said. 

"We couldn't afford anything out there that would have endangered the mission and gotten people killed or killed off the mission and the optionality. We didn't even know if the mission was going to happen and how can you notify something you're not even sure if it can happen? Because in order for it to happen, you needed to have weather conditions in place. He needed to be at the right place at the right time. We needed to have forces prepared to go. There were a lot of factors in place. It was a trigger-based operation," he added.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Sunday called the operation an "act of war," which Rubio rejected.

"But this was not an attack on Venezuela. This was a law enforcement function to capture an indicted drug trafficker. And of course we needed the Department of War to support it because they do have anti-aircraft missiles that could shoot down those helicopters," Rubio said.

"We had to take down radars. We had to take down those anti-air elements on the way in and on the way out. And that's what this was limited to," he added.