The White House on January 8 said the United States is selectively easing long-standing sanctions on Venezuela to allow the transport and sale of Venezuelan crude and oil products in global markets. Washington stressed the move is targeted and aimed at controlled energy flows.
00:00With respect to Venezuela, the Trump administration, led by Secretary Rubio, the vice president, and the president's entire national security team, is in close correspondence with the interim authorities in Venezuela.
00:12We obviously have maximum leverage over the interim authorities in Venezuela right now, and the president has made it very clear that this is a country within the United States, the Western Hemisphere, close by the United States, that is no longer going to be sending illegal drugs to the United States of America.
00:30It's no longer going to be sending and trafficking illegal people and criminal cartels to kill American citizens as they have in the past, and the president is fully deploying his peace through strength foreign policy agenda, so we're continuing to be in close coordination with the interim authorities, and their decisions are going to continue to be dictated by the United States of America.
00:52Well, as you saw, the president announced last night, this was a deal. This was a deal made by the president and his team with the Venezuelan interim authorities. This will benefit both the American people and the Venezuelan people, and Secretary Wright and the Department of Energy are working with the interim authorities and also with the private oil industry to execute on this historic energy deal that's not only good for the United States, but it's also going to revive the prosperity, the safety, the security of both the United States and Venezuela as well.
01:22This was the sanctioned oil that was basically just sitting in barrels, sitting on ships because of the effective quarantine of the United States of America, and the interim authorities have agreed to release that oil to the United States, so it will be arriving here at home very soon.
01:37The United States government has already begun marketing Venezuelan crude oil in the global marketplace for the benefit of the United States, engage the world's leading commodity marketers, key banks to execute and provide financial support for these crude oil and crude product sales.
01:52All proceeds from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil and products will first settle in U.S. controlled accounts at globally recognized banks to guarantee the legitimacy and integrity of the ultimate distribution of proceeds and those funds will be disbursed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the United States government.
02:12There's a lot of private sector engagement that's happening right now, as you know, Secretary Wright, our energy secretary, who's heading up this big project, is in Florida today meeting with some of these oil executives.
02:24And as we confirmed earlier, they will also be at the White House later this week, so they are absolutely eager to invest.
02:30They're eager about these opportunities, and Secretary Wright is a very well-knowledgeable guy when it comes to oil and energy, and he's the perfect man for the job.
02:41At this point in time, as you know, there are no troops on the ground in Venezuela.
02:44The president, of course, reserves the right to use the United States military if necessary.
02:49It's not something he wants to do.
02:50Diplomacy is always the first option, as you saw.
02:53He tried that with Nicolas Maduro, but unfortunately, he was an illegitimate dictator and an unserious person.
02:58And so President Trump authorized this law enforcement operation, and now Nicolas Maduro is sitting in a prison cell in New York.
03:07Let me just be very clear.
03:08The vice president has been involved in all policy.
03:12He is the right-hand man of the president on all policy matters, including Venezuela policy.
03:17He was, of course, read in and deeply involved in this operation from the very beginning.
03:21And he was present on the night of the operation via secure communication at a different location as to not damage the operational secrecy of this mission.
03:32Yeah, so the U.S. is selectively rolling back sanctions to enable the transport and the sale of Venezuelan crude and oil products to the global markets.
03:42Yes.
03:42And so I will reiterate what the president has said a few times now to all of you, which is that it's too premature and too early to dictate a timetable for elections in Venezuela right now.
03:52There are some reports from Venezuela that the country's leaders are cracking down on the population, specifically suppressing public expression of support from Maduro's ouster.
04:04Is that kind of behavior consistent with what the president wants to see, how the president wants to see the leaders take on the population?
04:11It would not be consistent, and I'll let the president's national security team speak further on that.
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