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:
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.
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.