Pam Bondi posts footage of oil tanker seizure
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, has released footage of the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, on X.com:
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… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 10, 2025
In a statement accompanying the footage, Bondi said the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the US Coast Guard, with support from the Department of Defense “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”. She said the tanker had been sanctioned by the US for “multiple years” due to its “involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations”.
The grainy, unclassified footage has no sound and is edited to include a number of clips. The 45-second reel shows US forces landing on the tanker from a helicopter.
The seizure marks an escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s dictator.
Key events
Venezuelan opposition leader arrives in Norway for Nobel peace prize
María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel peace prize winner, has arrived in Norway, defying a decade-long travel ban, Reuters reports.
Her arrival came hours after a ceremony to award her the prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed her arrival to Reuters. She has been banned by Maduro’s government from leaving Venezuela since 2014.
In her speech for the ceremony, which was delivered by her daughter in her absence, Machado said she vowed to continue her struggle to free the country from years of “obscene corruption”, “brutal dictatorship” and “despair”. Our earlier coverage:
Mark Warner, the Democratic vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, addressed the US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, saying, “If we can interdict a vessel of this size, why can’t we interdict some of these drug boats [instead of lethal strikes]?”
His comments, during a conversation with a Semafor reporter, came as officials released edited footage showing US forces taking control of the tanker.
Warner, who has called for the resignation of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, also reiterated his calls that the administration release the video of a lethal boat strike in September. He said more transparency was crucial as colleagues question whether the American military was taking illegal actions.
“You don’t have to be a history nut to realize that America’s history of intervention in the Caribbean, Central America and South America has been spotty at best,” he added.
Effort to restore federal workers’ union rights advances
The House has approved an effort to force the speaker, Mike Johnson, to hold a vote on a bill that would restore the union rights of roughly 1 million workers.
The Protect America’s Workforce Act, from Jared Golden, a Maine Democrat, would repeal Donald Trump’s executive order that stripped federal employees of labor rights. The bill’s lead GOP cosponsor is Brian Fitzpatrick, of Pennsylvania, and the two garnered 226 cosponsors of the bill and assembled a majority of members to sign what’s known as a discharge petition, forcing floor action, Golden’s office said.
Thirteen Republicans joined Democrats to authorize the discharge petition, which passed 222-200.
“Today’s vote is a reminder of what this House can accomplish when we honor its purpose and allow the people’s will to move forward, Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “A bipartisan majority affirmed that protecting America’s security and respecting America’s workers are not competing priorities — they are inseparable.”
House passes bill authorizing $900bn for military programs
The US House of Representatives has passed a defense bill that authorizes $900 billion in military programs.
The sweeping legislation includes a pay increase for troops and an overhaul of how the Department of Defense purchases weapons, the AP reports.
The 3,000-page bill also includes a demand for more information about the boat strikes in the Caribbean. A stipulation calls for the withholding of part of the travel budget of Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, unless the Pentagon releases to Congress the full, unedited video of a widely scrutinized strike.
The bill also authorizes $400m for each of the next two years for weapons support to Ukraine.
The White House has singaled support for the legislation, though Trump has dodged questions about unreleased boat strike footage and also recently compared Ukraine’s leader to a conman.
Pam Bondi posts footage of oil tanker seizure
Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, has released footage of the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, on X.com:
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… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) December 10, 2025
In a statement accompanying the footage, Bondi said the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the US Coast Guard, with support from the Department of Defense “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran”. She said the tanker had been sanctioned by the US for “multiple years” due to its “involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations”.
The grainy, unclassified footage has no sound and is edited to include a number of clips. The 45-second reel shows US forces landing on the tanker from a helicopter.
The seizure marks an escalation of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Venezuela’s dictator.
More details are emerging about US forces seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump rebuffed questions about the seizure at a recent briefing, but the New York Times is reporting that the tanker was named Skipper and was “flying a flag of a South American country where it was not in fact registered”, citing an unnamed US official with knowledge of the event. The source told the newspaper the tanker was taken because of its “past links to smuggling illicit Iranian oil, not because of ties to the Maduro regime”, but that it was carrying Venezuelan oil.
The paper also reported that, according to its source, a federal judge authorized a seizure warrant.
Meanwhile, the AP has reported that the Coast Guard members who seized the tanker were taken to the ship by a helicopter from the aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, citing an unnamed US official. The Ford arrived last month as the US has increased its pressure campaign against Maduro.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Donald Trump confirmed today that the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. It’s a major escalation in his ongoing pressure campaign against the country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro. He offered sparing details about the operation, simply saying the tanker was “the largest one ever” and it was “seized for a very good reason”.
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In their final meeting of 2025, the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a third time this year, this time by a quarter of a percentage point. The new range now sits between 3.5%-3.75%. However, the committee who decides the rate cut was split 9-3 in their vote. Speaking to reporters, Fed chair Jerome Powell said that it is “very unusual” to have “persistent tension between two parts of the mandate”, when asked about the fissure within the board of governors. However, he did underscore that “these are good, thoughtful, respectful discussions” between members.
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The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it has signed a nearly $140m contract to purchase six Boeing 737 planes for deportation operations. The contract with the Virginia-based firm Daedalus Aviation, was first reported by the Washington Post on Wednesday and later confirmed by DHS. In a statement to the Guardian, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said: “This new initiative will save $279m in taxpayer dollars by allowing ICE to operate more effectively, including by using more efficient flight patterns.”
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A federal judge in New York has granted the justice department’s request to unseal grand jury documents of the 2019 federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. In his decision, judge Richard M Berman cited the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which requires the DoJ to release all records related to the late sex-offender in a searchable format by 19 December. Berman granted the motion with the “unequivocal right of Epstein victims to have their identity and privacy protected”.
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The House is set to vote on the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a $900bn defense policy bill that is set to codify at least 15 of Donald Trumps’s executive orders for the US military. Lawmakers, who released the bill’s text over the weekend, are up against the clock to pass the legislation by the end of this year.
Maduro: Venezuela is ‘prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire’
Nicolás Maduro has told supporters that Venezuela is “prepared to break the teeth of the North American empire if necessary”, the AP reports. The comments come as Donald Trump has confirmed that the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, in a major escalation in his campaign against the country’s dictator.
Maduro made the remarks during a speech at a Caracas demonstration organized by the ruling party, the AP reported, noting he did not address the oil tanker seizure. Standing with senior officials, Maduro said only the ruling party can “guarantee peace, stability and the harmonious development of Venezuela, South America and the Caribbean”.
“And the only president who has the preparation, the history and the unwavering support of the people and the armed forces … is named Nicolás Maduro,” he added.
Trump: ‘It’s imperative that CNN be sold’
Trump was asked about Warner Bros Discovery, which own CNN and is facing a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance. The president responded: “I think it’s imperative that CNN be sold, because you certainly wouldn’t want to … leave those people with some good money so CNN can spend even more money spreading poison, because it’s lies … The people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent.”
After Netflix recently unveiled a $82.7bn deal to acquire WBD’s studio and HBO, David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, announced a rival $108.4bn hostile bid to take over the entire company. White House officials have signaled their preference for Paramount, and before Paramount revealed its hostile bid, Trump had said he would be “involved in the decision” on approving Netflix’s acquisition.
Later in the briefing, Trump stopped taking questions from reporters when a CNN correspondent asked him about the non-release of the boat strike video he previously said he had no problem releasing. “I thought that issue was dead. I’m surprised you bring it up. You must be CNN,” the president said. “You know you work for the Democrats, don’t you? You’re basically an arm of the Democrat party.”
Trump threatens Colombia’s president: ‘He’ll be next’
Donald Trump has issued a threat to Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, saying, “He’s been fairly hostile to the United States. He’s gonna have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up. Columbia is producing a lot of drugs … He better wise up, or he’ll be next … Colombia is a major manufacturer of drugs, meaning cocaine.”
Earlier this month, Petro warned Trump he risked “waking the jaguar” after the US president suggested that any country he believed was making illegal drugs heading to the US could face military attack.
Our previous reporting:
‘He has to be realistic’: Trump chides Zelenskyy as peace deal negotiations continue
Donald Trump took some more jabs at Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his roundtable today.
“He has to be realistic,” the president said of the Zelenskyy, as the Ukrainian leader has expressed unwillingness to cede territory.
Trump also asserted that the Ukrainian people want a peace deal urgently and suggested that a general election is needed in the country. “Are they going to have an election, or are they going to just keep it going like this? So I think it’s time to get that war settled, and I think it’s a war that can be settled. But it takes two to tango,” Trump added.
The president says again that more information will be released about the seized oil tanker.
When asked about who owns the tanker, Trump said that we’ll “get that information later”.
He also said that he has not spoken with Nicolás Maduro since their last conversation at the end of last month.
Trump offers no details about seized oil tanker
The president rebuffed a question about details of the seized oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
“You’ll discuss that with the appropriate people later on,” Trump said. “It was seized for very good reason.”
He also said that pictures of the operation “probably have been released by now”.
Trump just joked that reporters in the room will likely have questions that aren’t really about technology, or the release of his “gold card” (a special visa for individuals and corporations).
The president made his announcement about the US seizing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, offered no details about the operation, and moved on to a technology and manufacturing roundtable discussion.
Trump confirms that US has seized oil tanker off coast of Venezuela
Speaking in the Roosevelt Room, Donald Trump confirms that the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
It’s a major escalation in his ongoing pressure campaign against the country’s dictator, Nicolás Maduro.
Trump said the tanker was “the largest one ever seized”, and said they’ll be “talking about that later with some other people”.
