White House confirms plan to seize oil from Venezuelan tanker

Watch White House confirms plan to seize oil from Venezuelan tanker - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Peter. Thank you, Caroline. Based on the way that things stand right now, is Operation Southern

00:05Spear about drugs or is it about oil? What I will tell you, Peter, is that the Trump administration

00:14is focused on doing many things in the Western Hemisphere. The president has taken a new

00:19approach that has not been taken by any administration for quite some time to actually

00:24focus on what's going on in our own backyard. And there are two things that are very important to

00:28this administration. Number one, stopping the flow of illegal drugs into the United States

00:35of America, which we know has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. The president promised

00:40on the campaign trail that he would demolish the foreign terrorist organizations and drug

00:45cartels around the world, especially right here in our own hemisphere. And you have seen

00:50that he is delivering on that promise. With respect to the oil and what happened yesterday,

00:54the Department of Justice requested and was approved for a warrant to seize a vessel because

00:59it's a sanctioned shadow vessel known for carrying black market sanctioned oil to the IRGC, which

01:06you know is a sanctioned entity. So the president is committed to stopping the illegal flow of

01:10drugs into our country. He's also fully committed to effectuating this administration's sanctioned

01:16policy. And that's what you saw and the world saw take place yesterday. And because he said

01:20the president is trying to do a lot of things at once, he talks a lot about how he thinks the way

01:25to bring down prices for everything would be to bring down the cost of energy. Would he use this

01:31seized Venezuelan oil to try to help Americans with affordability here in the United States?

01:39Well, what I can tell you right now, the vessel has been seized, as you know, and the Department of

01:45Justice did that in conjunction with the Coast Guard and the Department of War. The vessel

01:50is currently undergoing a forfeiter process right now. The United States currently has a full

01:55investigative team on the ground on the vessel and individuals on board the vessel are being

02:00interviewed and any relevant evidence is being seized. With respect to the oil, that's a different

02:05issue. As you know, Peter, the vessel will go to a U.S. port and the United States does intend to

02:11seize the oil. However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil and that legal process

02:16will be followed. And just my last one on this, if President Trump launches a bigger military

02:21campaign in the Caribbean, is he jeopardizing a possible Nobel Peace Prize? Look, the president has

02:29proven over the past year that he is more than worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. I think he's been

02:34nominated for it nearly 100 times this past year, which is definitely a record. He's solved, I think,

02:41nine conflicts around the world we are up to now. He's actively working on the Russia-Ukraine war,

02:46which is the big one as we speak and has been over the past year. With respect to any additional

02:52action in Venezuela, I'm definitely not going to get ahead of the president or the United States

02:56military.