Lawmakers reserved their most-stinging criticism for El Aissami, a hardliner socialist who would take over from Maduro should the president step down or be removed, as his opponents are seeking. El Aissami has been targeted by U.S. law enforcement since almost a decade ago, when dozens of fraudulent Venezuelan passports ended up in the hands of people from the Middle East, including alleged members of Hezbollah. He was also accused in 2011 by one of the nation's top drug traffickers of taking bribes through his brother to allow huge shipments of cocaine to leave from the country's main port.