The Latest: US forces board Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in North Atlantic

U.S. forces have boarded a Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in the North Atlantic

A U.S. official says U.S. forces have boarded a Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in the North Atlantic after pursuing it for weeks. The official spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade on sanctioned oil vessels around Venezuela. It had been sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 for allegedly smuggling cargo for a company linked to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The U.S. Coast Guard attempted to board it in the Caribbean in December as it headed for Venezuela.

The ship refused boarding and as it headed across the Atlantic, its name was changed from the Bella 1 to the Marinera and was reflagged to Russia, shipping databases show.

Officials in the administration of President Donald Trump have said the U.S. will continue to seize sanctioned vessels connected to Venezuela after capturing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.

The Latest:

US forces board Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in North Atlantic

A U.S. official says U.S. forces have boarded a Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in North Atlantic after pursuing it for weeks. The official spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.

The U.S. had been pursuing the tanker since last month after it tried to evade a U.S. blockade around Venezuela.

How Delcy Rodríguez courted Donald Trump and rose to power in Venezuela

In 2017, as political outsider Donald Trump headed to Washington, Delcy Rodríguez spotted an opening.

Then Venezuela’s foreign minister, Rodríguez directed Citgo — a subsidiary of the state oil company — to make a $500,000 donation to the president’s inauguration. With the socialist administration of Nicolas Maduro struggling to feed Venezuela, Rodríguez gambled on a deal that would have opened the door to American investment.

Around the same time, she saw that Trump’s ex-campaign manager was hired as a lobbyist for Citgo, courted Republicans in Congress and tried to secure a meeting with the head of Exxon. The charm offensive flopped, but it made Rodríguez a prominent face in U.S. business and political circles, paving the way for her own rise. And nearly a decade later, as Venezuela’s interim president, Rodríguez’s message — that Venezuela is open for business — seems to have persuaded Trump.

In the days since Maduro’s stunning capture Saturday, he’s alternately praised Rodríguez as a “gracious” American partner while threatening a similar fate as her former boss if she doesn’t keep the ruling party in check and provide the U.S. with “total access” to the country’s vast oil reserves. One thing neither has mentioned is elections, something the constitution mandates must take place within 30 days of the presidency being permanently vacated.

▶ Read more about Delcy Rodríguez and her relationship with Trump

Trump’s former Russia adviser says Russia offered US free rein in Venezuela in exchange for Ukraine

Russian officials indicated in 2019 that the Kremlin would be willing to back off from its support for Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela in exchange for a free hand in Ukraine, according to Fiona Hill, an adviser to President Donald Trump at the time.

The Russians repeatedly floated the idea of a “very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine,” Hill said during a congressional hearing in 2019. Her comments surfaced again this week and were shared on social media after the U.S. stealth operation to capture Maduro.

Hill said Russia pushed the idea through articles in Russian media that referenced the Monroe Doctrine — a 19th-century principle in which the U.S. opposed European meddling in the Western Hemisphere and in return agreed to stay out of European affairs. It was invoked by Trump to justify the U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

Even though Russian officials never made a formal offer, Moscow’s then-ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, hinted many times to her that Russia was willing to allow the United States to act as it wished in Venezuela if the U.S. did the same for Russia in Europe, Hill told The Associated Press this week.

▶ Read more about the former adviser’s remarks

Fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack brings fresh division to the US Capitol

On the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, there is no official event to memorialize what happened that day, when the mob made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, battled police at the Capitol barricades and stormed inside, as lawmakers fled. The political parties refuse to agree on a shared history of the events, which were broadcast around the globe. And the official plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol has never been hung.

Instead, the day displayed the divisions that still define Washington, and the country, and the White House itself issued a glossy new report with its own revised history of what happened.

Trump, during a lengthy morning speech to House Republicans away from the Capitol at the rebranded Kennedy Center now carrying his own name, shifted blame for Jan. 6 onto the rioters themselves. Democrats meanwhile reconvened members of the House committee that investigated the attack for a panel discussion to prevent what Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., described as the GOP’s “Orwellian project of forgetting.”

▶ Read more about the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack

Denmark and Greenland seek talks with Rubio over US interest in taking the island

Denmark and Greenland are seeking a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the Trump administration doubled down on its intention to take over the strategic Arctic island, a Danish territory.

This weekend’s U.S. military action in Venezuela has heightened fears across Europe, and Trump and his advisers in recent days have reiterated the U.S. leader’s desire to take over the island, which guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America.

“It’s so strategic right now,” Trump told reporters Sunday.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, have requested the meeting with Rubio in the near future, according to a statement posted Tuesday to Greenland’s government website.

Previous requests for a sit-down were not successful, the statement said.

▶ Read more about Trump’s interest in Greenland

Venezuelan oil redirected to the U.S.?

Trump said Tuesday that the nation would provide 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., pledging to use proceeds from the sale of this oil “to benefit the people” of both countries. The Venezuelan government had no immediate comment on this announcement. White House is organizing a meeting Friday with U.S. oil company executives from companies like Exxon and Chevron to discuss Venezuela, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the plans.

Trump pulling social safety net from Democratic states

The administration is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud — California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, will require the states to provide extra documentation to access the funds, but the administration did not detail the fraud allegations. Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York is prepared to litigate to maintain support for some of the poorest American families.

Polling shows Americans doubt Trump on Venezuela

Trump voters interviewed by AP journalists around the country praised the operation and expressed faith in Trump’s course — but not always limitless faith. Trump’s intensifying rhetoric about expanding U.S. power elsewhere in the hemisphere made some of his die-hard supporters nervous.

Polling conducted in the immediate aftermath of the military operation suggested that many Americans are unconvinced that the U.S. should step in to take control of the country.