Washington (CNN) Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday he did not know of anyone calling for a US military intervention in Venezuela amid the escalating political crisis gripping the South American nation and the Trump administration's embrace of an opposition leader.

"I don't know of anyone who is calling for a military intervention," the Florida Republican said on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper.

Rubio noted, however, that the US retained the right "of defending our national security in cases where it's threatened."

"The United States always retains the right, always, anywhere in the world, in any instance, to protect its national security," Rubio said. "So I'm not going to justify military intervention because I don't know who is calling for that."