Unidentified speaker says U.S. will seize Venezuelan oil, sell it and direct proceeds to Venezuelans

An unidentified speaker said the United States is preparing to seize oil stuck in Venezuela and sell it on the open market, with proceeds to be "handled in such a way" to "benefit the Venezuelan people, not corruption, not the regime." The speaker said the action was "about to execute on a deal" to "take all the oil."

The speaker asserted the oil cannot move now "because of our quarantine and because it's sanctioned," and said the plan would avoid the discounts Venezuela "was getting" by selling at prevailing market rates. The remark about quantity was ambiguous: the speaker said, "We are gonna take between 30 and 50000000 barrels of oil," a phrase that does not specify whether the lower number was 30 thousand, 30 million or an editorial error; the statement was not clarified during the remarks.

The speaker added that sale proceeds would be controlled and dispersed to benefit Venezuelan people rather than the Venezuelan government, and characterized the move as giving "a lot of leverage to move on the stabilization front." No agency, legal authority, timetable, mechanism for controlling funds, or implementation details were provided in the statement.

The claim in this record is an unverified policy assertion. The transcript does not identify the speaker, cite an executive order or statute, nor include confirmation from a named U.S. official or department. Absent additional documentation or attribution to a named, authorized official, the statement should be treated as an uncorroborated claim rather than confirmed government action. The speaker did not respond to follow-up questions in this record; no votes, court orders, or administrative authorizations are included in the transcript.

If agencies or officials issue formal guidance, orders, or notices clarifying legal authority, quantities, beneficiaries, or oversight mechanisms, those documents would be needed to evaluate the legality and likely effects of the steps the speaker described.