President Trump addresses the nation on December 17, 2025
President Trump is scheduled to make an announcement at 4:30 pm ET alongside War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan.
This comes amid escalating conflicts with Venezuela, as the Trump Administration continues attacks on drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, which have killed over 100 narcoterrorists. It also comes as the Trump Administration enforces an oil embargo on Venezuela and interdicts oil tankers.
US forces have seized two Venezuelan oil tankers since December 10 and attempted to seize a third over the weekend.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, the US Coast Guard attempted to board Bella 1, a sanctioned Iranian-linked tanker, but it fled.
US officials described the chase with the tanker, which was not flying a valid national flag, as an “active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion.”
MORE:
HOT PURSUIT: Coast Guard in Pursuit of Iranian Linked Venezuelan Oil Tanker Flying False Flag After Refusing to Allow US Forces on Board
The status of the pursuit remains unclear.
Today’s announcement will reportedly focus on American shipbuilding.
Per CNN:
President Donald Trump is expected to make an announcement about shipbuilding alongside his Pentagon chief and Navy secretary on Monday, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The announcement, set for 4:30 p.m. ET from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, comes amid a massive US naval buildup in the Caribbean Sea as Trump applies pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, including attempts to cut off his oil revenues.
The Navy on Friday announced it would commission a new class of frigates, built in the United States, as part of the new “Golden Fleet,” which Trump envisions as a more advanced collection of ships meant to better counter China. Frigates are designed to protect sea lanes and protect larger vessels.
Still, Tucker Carlson recently suggested he’s heard rumors that a war with Venezuela is imminent. “Members of Congress were briefed yesterday that a war is coming, and it’ll be announced in the address tonight,” he said before Trump addressed the nation last week. “Who knows, by the way, if that’ll actually happen? I don’t know, and I never want to overstate what I know, which is pretty limited in general.”
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