On Wednesday’s broadcast of MS NOW’s “The Weeknight,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) responded to the seizure of an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast by saying that even if the administration got a warrant to take the ship into custody, it’s “still a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuela. So, it is, again, a step toward possible conflict without any authorization from Congress.”
Blumenthal said, “[C]learly, this seizure of an oil tanker, with Venezuelan oil, even if it is a tanker that has illegally shipped Iranian oil in the past, and, therefore, they’ve gotten a seizure warrant to take into custody, is still a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuela. So, it is, again, a step toward possible conflict without any authorization from Congress.”
He continued, “The idea that there is armed conflict here, and it justifies either seizing the tanker or going against the boats in the Caribbean that they’ve been striking, 23 of them, killing more than 80 people, is really one that cries out for scrutiny. And that’s why I’ve called for a subpoena of all the records, documents, videos, and after-action reports, because what we’re seeing here is a cover-up. The lack of full transparency is deeply troubling.”
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