White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pivoted from a question about reports of a Russian submarine following the Bella I oil tanker, noting that the tanker was a "Venezuelan shadow fleet vessel" under sanctions and the crew would be subject to prosecution.
"The vessel was seized this morning in the North Atlantic pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court after being tracked," Leavitt told reporters at Wednesday's press briefing. "It was a Venezuelan shadow fleet vessel that transported sanctioned oil, and the United States under this president is not going to tolerate that."
"I would also just add, the vessel had a judicial seizure order and the crew.
"So that means the crew is now subject to prosecution for any applicable violation of federal law, and they will be brought to the United States for such prosecution if necessary."
The potential prosecution announcement comes just days after Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife were arraigned on narcoterrorism conspiracy charges.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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