The Trump administration’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker has drawn criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, saying the bold move could lead the U.S. deeper into conflict with Venezuela.
“I have absolutely no idea why the president is seizing an oil tanker,” Sen. Chris Coons, D-Conn., told NewsNation. “I’m gravely concerned that he is sleepwalking us into a war with Venezuela.” Coons said he had not been briefed on the administration’s intentions in Venezuela, despite being the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the seizure “sounds a lot like the beginning of a war.”
While Paul said he is vehemently against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and socialism, he said he is “not a fan of starting wars.”
“I don’t think it’s the job of the American government to go looking for monsters around the world, looking for adversaries and beginning wars,” he said, urging President Donald Trump to instead present his case for war to Congress. “That’s what should be going on right now.”
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Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a video of the action on X and said the U.S. “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”
Bondi said the oil was being used to support “foreign terrorist organizations.”
“This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was conducted safely and securely,” Bondi said.
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
Some Democratic representatives disagreed with Bondi. “People voted for President Trump because he was going to end the endless wars,” Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said while speaking on the House floor. “The American people do not want a regime change war in Venezuela.”
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was more blunt in his criticism. “So they can seize an oil tanker, but not a drug boat?” Warner wrote on X.
