Tucker Carlson has claimed that Donald Trump will announce war with Venezuela during a televised address to the nation tonight.
‘Members of Congress were briefed yesterday that a war is coming and it’ll be announced in the address to the nation tonight at 9 o’clock by the president,’ Carlson told the Judge Napolitano podcast on Wednesday.
However, Carlson added multiple caveats: ‘Who knows, by the way, if that will actually happen? I don’t know. And I never want to overstate what I know, which is pretty limited in general.’
The claim comes amid rampant speculation over Trump’s address to the nation on Wednesday. The White House said yesterday that his speech will highlight the administration’s achievements over the last year and tease its aims for 2026.
Trump dramatically escalated pressure on Venezuela on Wednesday night as he ordered a ‘total and complete’ blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers to and from the Latin American nation.
Venezuela’s socialist tyrant Nicolas Maduro denounced the action as ‘warmongering.’
Financial markets were quick to react.
Oil spiked toward $60 per barrel for Brent crude, while energy stocks including Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell soared.
Tucker Carlsonhas claimed that Donald Trump will announce war with Venezuela during a televised address to the nation tonight
President Donald Trump boards Air Force One en route to Delaware on Wednesday in Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
Since September, the US has struck at least 25 alleged narco-terror vessels, killing at least 95 people, primarily in the Caribbean Sea, as well as in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
The president accused Maduro’s government of using ‘stolen’ oil to ‘finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping’ in a Truth Social post Tuesday.
Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro warned that Trump’s ‘naval blockade is unquestionably an act of war’.
The escalation comes after last week’s seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker called the Skipper off the country’s coast, which Maduro claimed amounted to ‘kidnapping’ the vessel’s crew.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that the vessel had a history of transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran in support of Islamist terror groups.
Trump has refused to rule out strikes inside Venezuela to target cartels which he claims Maduro is helping to facilitate the industrial scale production and export of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the US.
Venezuela is typically a hub for the transport of cocaine, whereas the vast majority of fentanyl imports reach the US via its land border with Mexico.
Trump’s campaign appears aimed at undermining domestic support for Maduro but the Venezuelan military said Wednesday it was ‘not intimidated’ by the threats.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro holds the Sword of Peru during an event marking the bicentennial of its delivery to Simon Bolivar, in Caracas, Venezuela, November 25
Two US Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys depart at Mercedita International Airport on Wednesday in Ponce, Puerto Rico
US forces seizing an oil tanker last week
The foreign minister of China, the main market for Venezuelan oil, defended Caracas in a phone call with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gi against the US ‘bullying.’
‘China opposes all unilateral bullying and supports all countries in defending their sovereignty and national dignity,’ he said.
Caracas believes that the anti-narcotics operations are a cover for a bid to topple Maduro and steal Venezuelan oil.
The escalating tensions have raised fears of a potential US intervention to dislodge Maduro.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum waded into the dispute on Wednesday, declaring that the United Nations was ‘nowhere to be seen’ and asked that it step up to ‘prevent any bloodshed.’
Venezuela has been under a US oil embargo since 2019, forcing it to sell its production on the black market at significantly lower prices, primarily to Asian countries.
The country produces one million barrels of oil per day, down from more than three million in the early 2000s.
Capital Economics analysts predicted that the blockade ‘would cut off a key lifeline for Venezuela’s economy’ in the short term.
‘The medium-term impact will hinge largely on how tensions with the US evolve – and what the US administration’s goals are in Venezuela.’
The White House has been contacted for comment.
