Trump Warns: ‘We Had a Lot of Oil’ In Venezuela And ‘We Want It Back’

President Donald Trump took questions from reporters after attending the dignified transfer of fallen U.S. soldiers on Wednesday and spoke about his intention to “get back” U.S. “oil rights” in Venezuela.

Trump has been signaling direct military action against Venezuela for weeks now, and was asked by a reporter about his Tuesday announcement of a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers from entering and leaving Venezuela.

“It’s a blockade, and we’re not going to let anybody go through that shouldn’t be going through. You remember they took all of our energy rights. They took all our oil from not that long ago, and we want it back. But they took it. They illegally took it,” Trump replied.

Another reporter then asked about reports that Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino might be leaving his role, which Trump appeared to confirm.

Trump was then asked to further clarify his Venezuela comments. “Yeah, getting land, oil rights, whatever we had—they took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn’t watching,” Trump replied, adding:

But they’re not going to do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights with a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out, and we want it back. Well, I think the message this evening is we inherited a mess, and we’ve done a great job, and we continue to. And our country is going to be stronger than ever before, very soon. Thank you very much, everybody.

On Tuesday night, Trump posted to Truth Social:

Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us. The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping. For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela. The Illegal Aliens and Criminals that the Maduro Regime has sent into the United States during the weak and inept Biden Administration, are being returned to Venezuela at a rapid pace. America will not allow Criminals, Terrorists, or other Countries, to rob, threaten, or harm our Nation and, likewise, will not allow a Hostile Regime to take our Oil, Land, or any other Assets, all of which must be returned to the United States, IMMEDIATELY. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Watch the clip above via Fox News.

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