Trump-Venezuela live: Fears US is ‘beginning a war’ after seizing oil tanker in dramatic escalation

This is how lawmakers on Capitol Hill reacted to the news, with Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul was expressing dismay and telling NewsNation the development “sounds a lot like the beginning of a war.”

He also declared that it was not “the job of the American government to go looking for monsters around the world, looking for adversaries and beginning wars.”

Paul has been sounding the alarm about precisely this coming to pass all week.

Another senator, who has expressed his concern is Delaware Democrat Chris Coons, featured among the politicians reacting here:

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that the U.S. military has seized a Venezuelan oil tanker, a dramatic escalation of the existing tensions that began in September when his administration began blowing up alleged drug boats.

“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela,” Trump told reporters during a business roundtable event at the White House.

“Largest one ever seized actually. And other things are happening.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel subsequently published footage of American forces landing on the deck of the vessel from a helicopter, with Bondi alleging that the ship had been involved “in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”

The U.S. has killed at least 87 people in missile strikes on alleged narco-boats in the Caribbean and Pacific over the last four months but has faced repeated criticism for failing to provide evidence to justify its lethal actions.

It has also moved military forces towards Central America, including the world’s largest aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R Ford, from which the chopper used in yesterday’s mission was reportedly launched, as part of a concerted pressure campaign against Venezuela and its leader Nicolas Maduro.

Brendan Rascius and Graig Graziosi have this full report.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of President Donald Trump and his administration as the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker by the U.S. military marks a major escalation of the tensions between the two nations that have rumbled on since September.