Well, this is a first: CNN’s national security contributor doesn’t have an issue with us seizing a Venezuelan oil tanker. We seized it yesterday, with video footage of our troops boarding it via helicopter. From Beth Sanner:
HUH 🤔 Beth Sanner on CNN says the U.S seizing Venezuelan oil tankers is normal.
— DeVory Darkins (@devorydarkins) December 10, 2025
Jake Tapper: "There has been this pressure campaign from President Trump for [Maduro] to step down, seizing an oil tanker. That's a much bigger deal than these narco terrorist boats. How could this… pic.twitter.com/0oGKyjh7G5
To me, this is absolutely normal. We've been seizing Iranian oil tankers in the past. We also, according to the law that I've read, that oil is up for forfeiture. So we could keep that. We've kept Iranian oil in the past. So I actually think that this is, less controversial in terms of law and sanctions and what has been disputed or not disputed, like I think this is actually a pretty check the box case. What will this mean in terms of escalation? You know, what is he going to do? What is maduro going to do? Is he going to step aside because we're sanctioning this oil? I mean, you know, we pick up this oil tanker, it's one oil tanker. Probably not."
Sanner also believed that the declassification of key Russian collusion documents by the intelligence community was doing Moscow’s bidding. You'd think with CNN being geared to do battle with Trump 24/7, they'd attempt to paint this scenario like the Mai Lai Massacre.
BREAKING via @CBSNews: The oil tanker the US seized was "The Skipper," per sources. The operation started around 6 a.m. today and involved 2 helicopters with special operations forces--10 Marines and 10 Coast Guard--that launched from a US military vessel. 🚨Trump admin is… https://t.co/tmCpLtLaTJ
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 10, 2025
MORE via @CBSNews: The helicopters used in the US seizure of the oil tanker had launched from the USS Gerald Ford, per sources. The boarding team was comprised of Coast Guard’s Maritime Security and Response Team (MSRT), an elite maritime-interdiction unit based on the East Coast…
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 10, 2025
Venezuela denounced the US's seizure of the oil tanker, calling it shameless robbery and piracy. It said it will go before all existing international bodies to denounce the act as a serious international crime.
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) December 11, 2025
.@PeterMeijer on the significance of the U.S. seizing an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast: “Reuters was also reporting that this vessel had also been accused of violating Iranian sanctions, kind of gives a little bit of a heads up on the broad shadow network, on the illicit… pic.twitter.com/LiOyhEgMkM
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 10, 2025
The vessel had been accused of violating Iran sanctions, as detailed by Attorney General Pam Bondi yesterday:
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker 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. This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely—and our investigation alongside the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil continues.
But, of course, the mainstream press, ever-stupid, is trying to tie this incident to the ongoing airstrikes on drug runners in the Caribbean.
🚨WATCH: Sen. @Eric_Schmitt CLAPS BACK at reporter.
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 11, 2025
REPORTER: If you can seize an oil tanker without killing anyone, shouldn't that have been the way that these fishing boats were also stopped?
SCHMITT: Fishing boats?! What is a fishing boat? The drug runners?
REPORTER:… pic.twitter.com/Zl73p3KLFY
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