Noem links seizure of oil tanker off Venezuela to U.S. antidrug efforts

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday linked the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela to the Trump administration's counter-drug efforts in Latin America as tensions escalate with the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

- By Mec KINNARD

REDACTED video posted on Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi's X account shows a tanker being seized by U.S. forces.

(U.S. Attorney General's Office / X)

Noem’s assertion, which came during her testimony to the House Homeland Security Committee, provided the Republican administration’s most thorough explanation so far of why it took control of the vessel on Wednesday.

Incredibly unusual, the use of U.S. forces to seize a merchant ship was a sharp escalation in the administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States.

Trump officials added to it Thursday by imposing sanctions on three of Maduro’s nephews.