"The administration has also conducted a campaign of bombings of alleged drug boats, killing more than 80 people so far. Trump confirmed the tanker seizure shortly after it occurred, telling reporters: We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized, actually. When asked what would happen to the oil, Trump responded: We keep the oil, I guess!"
"Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who serves on the Senate foreign relations committee, said the tanker seizure indicated the administration was being dishonest about its military operations in the region. This shows that their whole cover story that this is about interdicting drugs is a big lie, Van Hollen said. This is just one more piece of evidence that this is really about regime change by force."
"Rand Paul, a Republican senator of Kentucky, told NewsNation that seizing someone's oil tanker is an initiation of war and questioned whether it's the job of the American government to go looking for monsters around the world, looking for adversaries and beginning wars. Chris Coons, a Democratic senator, said he was also alarmed at the administration's actions, telling the station: I have no idea why the president is seizing an oil tanker and I'm fairly gravely concerned that he's sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela."
A Venezuelan oil tanker was seized off the nation's coast amid an expanded US military presence in the Caribbean and a campaign of bombings of alleged drug boats that has killed more than 80 people. President Trump confirmed the seizure and indicated the oil would be kept. Lawmakers from both parties expressed alarm, with some accusing the administration of dishonesty about drug interdiction and alleging the actions signal forced regime change. Critics warned that seizing an oil tanker risks initiating war and that the administration may be sleepwalking the country toward conflict with Venezuela.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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