Venezuela: Tanker Seizure Reveals Trump's True Motive

Many members of Congress are holding off on weighing in on the dramatic US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela until they learn more details from the White House, reports the Hill. GOP Sen. Rand Paul, however, complained on NewsNation that it "sounds a lot like the beginning of a war." It's "not the job of the American government to go looking for monsters around the world, looking for adversaries and beginning wars." Similarly, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, said on NewsNation he worried that President Trump was "sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela."

• Video, Bondi defends: Attorney General Pam Bondi released video of the operation and said the seizure was justified because the vessel was used to "transport sanctioned oil" from Venezuela and Iran. "For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations." The seized ship is called the Skipper, but it was sanctioned in 2022 under a different name, reports the Washington Post. The US has not identified its owner.

• Venezuela responds: Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil denounced the seizure as "international piracy" in a social media post. "The true reasons for the prolonged aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed," he said. "It's not migration. It's not drug trafficking. It's not democracy. It has always been about our natural resources." Trump's goal, he added, "has always been to take Venezuelan oil without paying anything in return."
• The oil: When asked by a reporter what the US intended to do with the oil, Trump responded, "We keep it, I guess," per the BBC. "I assume we're going to keep the oil." The vessel may have close to 2 million barrels. The Post reports the oil appears to have been on its way from Venezuela to Cuba.
• Fishy locales: The ship has frequently carried oil from countries under US sanctions, and it appears to routinely broadcast false location data about its whereabouts, reports the New York Times. Using data and images from TankerTrackers.com, the story suggests the ship is sometimes hundreds of miles away from where its transponder says it should be.