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President Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela is “turning over” millions of barrels of oil.

“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday evening.

The president said the oil will be sold, and he will control the money from the sale “to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States.”

Also Tuesday, the Trump administration said it was considering using the military to acquire Greenland, days after completing a covert operation to capture Venezuela’s now-deposed President Nicolás Maduro.

Greenland, a mineral-rich Arctic island, is a self-governing territory of Denmark. Six major European nations said in a joint statement Tuesday: “Only Denmark and Greenland can decide on matters concerning their relations.”

Trump told reporters last Sunday Greenland is “so strategic right now,” adding the territory “is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”

Over the weekend, the U.S. captured Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas. They both subsequently pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges.

Marco Rubio told lawmakers Trump admin wants to buy Greenland: report

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers during a closed-door briefing Monday that the Trump administration wants to buy Greenland from Denmark, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Wall Street Journal.

But the White House said in a public statement Tuesday that using the U.S. military to acquire the Arctic island was not off the table.

Rachel Dobkin7 January 2026 00:40

Senate Democrats attempt to curb Trump’s warmaking abilities after Venezuela raid

Democrats in the Senate are pushing a pair of War Powers resolutions aimed at curbing Donald Trump’s ability to wage war abroad after the president directed a U.S. strike on Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Nicolas Maduro – and with the president leaving open the possibility that other countries could also be targeted.

Sen. Ruben Gallego on Tuesday announced a resolution aimed at preventing the president from using military force in an attempt to seize Greenland amid renewed threats from the White House challenging Denmark’s sovereignty over the territory. His announcement comes as the Senate is due on Thursday to vote on a separate resolution aimed at preventing further U.S. strikes inside Venezuela without congressional authority.

John Bowden7 January 2026 00:20

Trump says Venezuela is ‘turning over’ millions of barrels of oil

President Donald Trump has announced that Venezuela is “turning over” millions of barrels of oil.

“I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America.

“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!

“I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote on Truth Social Tuesday evening.

Rachel Dobkin7 January 2026 00:00

Seven U.S. service members injured in Venezuela raid: report

Seven U.S. service members were injured in the operation that led to the capture of Venezuela’s now-deposed President Nicolás Maduro, the Associated Press reported, citing the Pentagon.

Out of those seven service members, two are still recovering from their injuries that occurred during Saturday’s raid.

A U.S. official told the AP the service members suffered from gunshot wounds and shrapnel injuries.

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 23:40

Democrat senator gladly backs Ruben Gallego’s war powers resolution to prevent Greenland invasion

Senator Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat, told The Independent Tuesday that he has gladly co-sponsored Senator Ruben Gallego’s war powers resolution to prevent President Donald Trump from invading Greenland.

The Arizona Democrat wrote on X on Monday, “Trump is on a high from his illegal operation in Venezuela and is bragging about potentially sending our young men and women into more stupid wars of conquest. Greenland could be next.”

Rachel Dobkin and Eric Garcia6 January 2026 23:20

Watch: Chuck Schumer says he was ‘very disappointed’ by Trump administration’s answer when asked about targeting more countries

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 23:00

Europe’s showdown with Trump over threat to Greenland

Europe set up a showdown with Donald Trump after its leaders joined Canada and Denmark to rally behind Greenland, insisting it “belongs to its people” as the US president doubled down on threats to imminently annex the strategic, mineral-rich island.

Despite backlash from Europe the White House insisted on Tuesday it is “discussing options for acquiring Greenland.”

“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” the Trump administration said in a statement.

“The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilising the U.S. military is always an option at the commander-in-chief’s disposal,” the statement added.

Earlier in the day, leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain had joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty.

“Greenland belongs to its people,” the statement said. “It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.”

Bel Trew6 January 2026 22:40

Watch: Pam Bondi calls Nicolás Maduro a ‘monster’

Rachel Dobkin6 January 2026 22:25

INSIDE STORY: What the Greenland locals really think of Trump – and why he could be in for a shock

When President Trump first said he wanted to buy Greenland, I asked many local people what they thought. I didn’t hear a single person say it would be a good idea then, and I am still waiting. As for the most recent soundbite from the president about looking down the coast and seeing “Russian and Chinese ships all over the place”, the typical response here is: “Trump is talking nonsense again.”

But then Katie Miller, the wife of Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to Trump, posted a picture of Greenland draped in the American flag, accompanied by the ominous single word “SOON”, and suddenly everything feels a bit more serious. Not for nothing are Greenlandic people now flooding social media with pictures of Greenland in the colours of their flag.

What the Greenland locals really think of Trump – and why he’s in for a shock

When Dennis Lehtonen, 30, left city life behind for one of the remotest places on Earth, he could not have imagined the extremes that awaited him. Three years later, after enduring –37C temperatures, using bags as toilets and sledding 20km to the nearest local shop, he explains why he has stayed – and what Greenland’s response to the US president really looks like

Dennis Lehtonen6 January 2026 22:19

ANALYSIS: The White House wants to ‘own’ the Western hemisphere. Voters aren’t really buying it

Over the four days that have elapsed since the daring, unprecedented — and according to critics, illegal — special forces action that brought Maduro from a Caracas safe house to a New York courtroom on drug and weapons charges, the president and his allies in the White House have proceeded to threaten or warn of military action against multiple American allies and neighbors, including Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, and Denmark, the NATO member kingdom which has controlled Greenland in whole or in part since the 16th century.

Trump himself told reporters on Sunday that the result of his decision to have U.S. forces seize Maduro was to show that “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” while claiming that his administration’s aim was to make sure the hemisphere was filled with “countries around us that are viable and successful and where the oil is allowed to freely come out.”

For Trump, it was a return to the bellicose rhetoric he’d spouted since the days immediately following his 2024 election victory, when he began claiming the U.S. needs to annex Greenland for “national security” reasons despite the existence of a decades-old treaty that essentially gives America carte blanche to base troops there as part of the country’s commitment to NATO.

Andrew Feinberg6 January 2026 22:16