Image Credit: Donald Leng / Getty 
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth held a joint private briefing with senators and members of congress this week, providing a behind-the-scenes look at how the U.S. military is going about its controversial strikes on Venezuelan drug trafficking boats.
Speaking with News Nation’s Chris Cuomo, Senator John Fetterman (D-Penn.) described what he learned in the meeting by saying the mainstream media narrative that the military is just picking off anybody driving a boat out of Venezuela is “just not true.”
Live on air, Senator John Fetterman SHATTERED one of the biggest myths being pushed about Trump’s Venezuela strikes.
— Overton (@overton_news) December 17, 2025
After receiving a private intelligence briefing, Fetterman told Chris Cuomo that the idea U.S. forces are “randomly” attacking boats is flat-out false.
CUOMO:… pic.twitter.com/5VxTnbGZu9
“There’s extensive intelligence, and they know exactly who’s on that boat, and they know what’s actually on that boat right now. And quite frequently, they decline to take it in, to move on those things,” he said. “When they move on these kinetic kinds of strikes, you know, they have absolute confidence in who’s on it and what’s on it. And that’s exactly what it’s about. They’re not just going around randomly shooting boats. That’s just not the fact.”
On Tuesday, President Trump announced a blockade of “all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela,” claiming the Maduro regime is “using oil from these stolen oil fields to finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping.”
Cuomo asked Senator Fetterman about the announcement, with the Pennsylvania politician noting Russia, China and Iran similarly use sanctioned oil to fund their regimes.
“And absolutely right now it’s not a plan to, like, a land war and invade Venezuela and that. But seizing those kinds of oil tankers—and it’s undeniable that that’s oil that’s going to support Iran,” he told the journalist.
Next, Cuomo pressed Fetterman on why he doesn’t believe the president should be required to come to Congress before carrying out military strikes, and the senator replied, “I think what’s happening right now is consistent. I think that, to me, it’s not unreasonable to compare that to what President Obama was doing during his presidency. He was using drone hits, and he took out thousands of people in terrorism. Of course, if I was in the Senate that time, I would have supported those as well, too.”
“I don’t think anyone in the Senate would support, like, a full-on land invasion or putting American boots on in Venezuela. But currently, right now, that’s not what’s happening. And there is extensive cooperation with nations in the region.”
Congressman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) posted a video on 𝕏 after attending the briefing, saying the Pentagon has lawyers confirming “every step of the way that what they’re doing is legal” in Venezuela.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) spoke with reporters upon leaving the meeting, slamming mainstream media for siding with drug smugglers responsible for killing millions of Americans over the Trump administration and U.S. military.
“So what’s the difference between Obama attacking these individuals when they were deemed terrorist organizations in the Middle East, versus the ones that are here right now POISONING our streets?!” he asked.
🚨 HOLY CRAP! Sen. Markwayne Mullin just went HAYWIRE on Democrats for siding with narco-terrorists over Trump and SecWar Hegseth
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 16, 2025
"I'm losing PATIENCE on the whole thing because I think it's RIDICULOUS that we're having this conversation!" 🔥
"Does anybody DOUBT that these are… pic.twitter.com/iqv3crhZ5u
“Underneath Obama, he had 500 strikes, 3,700 different individuals were killed. There wasn’t a big show about this!” the senator added. “What you guys are all upset about is the hemisphere that it’s working in. These are drug terrorist organizations. The same people that Obama went after and some people we’ve been over for the last 24 years were terrorist organizations that were wanting to kill Americans!”
“There has been more Americans killed because of these terrorist cartels drugging our streets, drugging every one of your streets, every one of your towns, every one of the audience’s towns. They’ve killed more people in 2024 on our streets than we lost in the entire Vietnam War for U.S. personnel! The president has the authority to do this.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters the strikes will not be stopping anytime soon.
BREAKING🚨Marco Rubio and SecWar Pete Hegseth just walked into Capitol Hill and laid it down flat for Democrats.
— ⁿᵉʷˢ Barron Trump 🇺🇸 (@BarronTNews_) December 16, 2025
The narco strikes are NOT stopping. They are ongoing. Full force.
Rubio made it crystal clear. These strikes remain. Period. We are dismantling terror infrastructure… pic.twitter.com/ADSoqmgnXT
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