{"id":8403,"date":"2025-12-18T01:30:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T01:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/18\/latest-on-the-trump-administration-president-to-address-nation-amid-venezuela-tensions-and-health-care-battle-cnn\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T01:30:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T01:30:27","slug":"latest-on-the-trump-administration-president-to-address-nation-amid-venezuela-tensions-and-health-care-battle-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/12\/18\/latest-on-the-trump-administration-president-to-address-nation-amid-venezuela-tensions-and-health-care-battle-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest on the Trump administration: President to address nation amid Venezuela tensions and health care battle – CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Live Updates<\/p>\n

Latest on the Trump administration: President to address nation amid Venezuela tensions and health care battle <\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
President Trump ordered a \u201ctotal and complete blockade\u201d of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving from Venezuela, announcing the move in a Truth Social post that escalated his rhetoric against Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

” data-duration=”00:48″ data-source-html=” \u2022 Source: CNN<\/a> <\/span>” data-fave-thumbnails=”{“big”: { “uri”: “https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/115867-trumpblockadeanalysis-16×9-clean-thumb.jpg?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill” }, “small”: { “uri”: “https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/115867-trumpblockadeanalysis-16×9-clean-thumb.jpg?c=16×9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill” } }” data-vr-video=”false” data-show-html=”” data-byline-html=”<\/p>\n

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Updated 8:21 PM EST, Wed December 17, 2025 <\/div>\n

” data-check-event-based-preview data-is-vertical-video-embed=”false” data-network-id data-publish-date=”2025-12-17T07:23:02.629Z” data-video-section=”world” data-canonical-url=”https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/17\/world\/video\/trumps-blockade-could-lead-to-regime-change-in-venezuela-analyst-says-digvid” data-branding-key data-video-slug=”trumps-blockade-could-lead-to-regime-change-in-venezuela-analyst-says-digvid” data-first-publish-slug=”trumps-blockade-could-lead-to-regime-change-in-venezuela-analyst-says-digvid” data-video-tags data-breakpoints=”{“video-resource–media-extra-large”: 660}” data-display-video-cover=”true” data-details data-track-zone=”live-story-lede” data-sticky-anchor-pos=”bottom”> <\/p>\n

President Trump ordered a \u201ctotal and complete blockade\u201d of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving from Venezuela, announcing the move in a Truth Social post that escalated his rhetoric against Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

” data-check-event-based-preview data-network-id data-publish-date=”2025-12-17T07:23:02.629Z” data-video-section=”world” data-canonical-url=”https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/17\/world\/video\/trumps-blockade-could-lead-to-regime-change-in-venezuela-analyst-says-digvid” data-branding-key data-video-slug=”trumps-blockade-could-lead-to-regime-change-in-venezuela-analyst-says-digvid” data-first-publish-slug=”trumps-blockade-could-lead-to-regime-change-in-venezuela-analyst-says-digvid” data-video-tags> \"115867_TrumpBlockadeAnalysis<\/picture> <\/div>\n

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Trump\u2019s blockade could lead to regime change in Venezuela – analyst says <\/p>\n

00:48 <\/span> \u2022 Source: CNN<\/a> <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Trump\u2019s blockade could lead to regime change in Venezuela – analyst says<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

00:48 <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\u2022 Presidential address:<\/strong> President Donald Trump will deliver remarks<\/a> to the nation at 9 p.m. ET. The White House said his speech will highlight the administration\u2019s actions during the past year and tease priorities for 2026. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Venezuela latest:<\/strong> Trump yesterday said he was ordering a complete blockade<\/a> of sanctioned oil tankers coming to and leaving Venezuela. He also demanded oil, land and assets from the country that he claimed it had \u201cstole\u201d from the US. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Health care vote: <\/strong>House Republicans have approved a narrow package<\/a> designed to lower health care costs for some Americans in the coming years \u2013 marking a win for leadership even as some of their own members complain it falls woefully short of tackling rising prices in 2026. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Changes at FBI: <\/strong>Meanwhile, Deputy FBI director Dan Bongino<\/a> is stepping down soon from the job after eight months marked by clashes with his boss, Attorney General Pamela Bondi. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Speaker<\/picture> <\/div>\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson defended his handling of wrangling his caucus on health care and reiterated the defections were not a weakening of his leadership and said any vote on enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies would not happen until January. <\/p>\n

In response to a question from CNN about Republicans who thought he mishandled the situation, Johnson said he didn\u2019t see how he could have handled it \u201cany better\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think two of them said as much. But I think if you talk to everybody across the conference, they\u2019ll say, I\u2019m not sure how it could have been handled any differently or any better,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Johnson said of the defections of swing-district Republicans who joined Democrats to force a vote on ACA subsidies, \u201cThere\u2019s no ill will here. There\u2019s not, this is not a challenge to the Speaker\u2019s leadership. It\u2019s a it\u2019s they\u2019re using the rules. Here\u2019s the reality, everybody, we have a small majority. We have a razor thin majority,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Johnson said a vote on ACA subsidies would not happen until after the House returns in January and maintained it was \u201cnot good policy\u201d when asked if he was okay with letting the subsidies expire in the meantime. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey had number of signatures on a discharge petition for the subsidies, which is not good policy, as I\u2019ve just explained, but it\u2019s inevitable that it comes the floor for consideration,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Venezuela's<\/picture> <\/div>\n

Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro said today that Donald Trump revealed his true motives toward the South American country with his claim that it had stolen US \u201coil, land and other assets.\u201d <\/p>\n

Maduro said Trump\u2019s claim showed the US was really seeking regime change along with ownership of Venezuela\u2019s territory and resources. Previously, the US has characterized its build-up of naval forces near the country as aimed at combating drug-trafficking. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the military buildup around Venezuela would get bigger until the country returned to the US \u201cthe oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.\u201d <\/p>\n

Trump told reporters today that Venezuela had illegally taken away \u201cenergy rights\u201d and that the US wanted them back. \u201cWe\u2019re getting land, oil rights, whatever we had. They took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn\u2019t watching. But they\u2019re not going to do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. As you know, they threw our companies out and we want it back.\u201d <\/p>\n

Venezuela brought its oil sector under state control in the 1970s. Previously, American companies had a much larger presence in its oil fields. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"Former<\/picture> <\/div>\n

After over eight hours, former special counsel Jack Smith\u2019s deposition with the House Judiciary Committee is over. <\/p>\n

Smith did not answer questions, but his lawyer made a brief statement at the pool camera defending Smith\u2019s testimony and work. Smith departed around 6:48 pm ET. <\/p>\n

Remember:<\/strong> Smith defended his criminal investigation<\/a> into President Donald Trump in the closed-door deposition as he faced scrutiny from Republican lawmakers. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"President<\/picture> <\/div>\n

President Donald Trump says he wants TV networks like NBC to pay \u201csignificant amounts of money\u201d for licenses, which would be a radical change to the beleaguered broadcast business. <\/p>\n

Networks \u201cshould be properly licensed,\u201d Trump said on Truth Social<\/a>, while railing against a recent episode of NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press\u201d<\/a> because he didn\u2019t like one of the guests, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. <\/p>\n

Radio and TV stations are already licensed by the FCC, and in exchange for free use of the public spectrum, they are required to operate in the \u201cpublic interest.\u201d <\/p>\n

Licenses are renewed every 8 years and are virtually never revoked. But Trump has talked frequently about wanting to punish stations and networks that he perceives as adversaries. Press freedom advocates, in turn, have worried that his threats could have a chilling effect. <\/p>\n

It would take an act of Congress to overhaul the licensing process the way Trump says he wants. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s comments came on the same day that his close ally Brendan Carr, whom Trump tapped to chair the FCC, said in a Senate hearing that the agency is not independent, \u201cformally speaking.\u201d <\/p>\n

Democrats denounced Carr as a government censor, citing his threats toward ABC about Jimmy Kimmel last September, among other examples. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou are weaponizing the public interest standard,\u201d Sen. Ed Markey said. <\/p>\n

Carr defended his actions and said, \u201cAny broadcaster that complies with the public interest standard is not in any risk at all.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"US<\/picture> <\/div>\n

The House on Wednesday voted to pass a bill that could imprison health care providers for performing gender-affirming care for minors. <\/p>\n

The bill \u2014 titled the \u201cProtect Children\u2019s Innocence Act\u201d and sponsored by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia \u2013 would make it a class c felony to treat minors with gender-affirming care like surgeries and puberty blockers. The bill could imprison doctors who provide such care for up to ten years. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether the GOP-led Senate will take up the measure. The House vote was 216-211. <\/p>\n

Rep. Greene said<\/a> last week she secured floor consideration of her bill as part of a deal with leaders who wanted her to drop her opposition to advancing a critical defense policy bill. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"The<\/picture> <\/div>\n

We\u2019re expecting to hear from President Donald Trump tonight from the White House. <\/p>\n

Before we do, here\u2019s a look at political stories across CNN to get you all up to speed: <\/p>\n

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