Is Trump's Interest In Venezuela Really About Oil?
Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast
WNYC Studios
4.4 • 675 Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | From WNYC Studios. I'm Brian Lehrer. This is my daily politics podcast. It's Monday, January 5th. |
| 0:14.8 | Well, 2026 is starting a lot like 2025 and it. Take a weekend off from following the news, turn off your news org |
| 0:22.5 | notifications for a couple of days, and it's like you were Rip Van Winkle after being asleep for 20 years. |
| 0:28.8 | So by now you know the U.S. invaded and says it is running Venezuela. Our guest is former New York |
| 0:35.5 | Times journalist and former bureau chief in Caracas, |
| 0:38.5 | and the author of Things are never so bad that they can't get worse inside the collapse of Venezuela. |
| 0:47.8 | His book published in 2022, journalist William Newman. |
| 0:51.8 | William, thanks for your time under these intense circumstances. |
| 0:55.0 | Welcome back to WNYC. |
| 0:57.0 | Brian, thank you very much. |
| 0:58.3 | It's great to be back here. |
| 1:00.1 | Here's Secretary of State Rubio on NBC's Meet the Press yesterday with Kristen Welker, |
| 1:05.3 | giving some of the rationale for this and making clear that it's largely about oil |
| 1:10.4 | and the presence of U.S. |
| 1:12.2 | adversaries with Venezuela's oil market. |
| 1:16.5 | We don't need Venezuela's oil. |
| 1:17.9 | We have plenty of oil in the United States. |
| 1:19.6 | What we're not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by |
| 1:24.1 | adversaries of the United States. |
| 1:26.0 | You have to understand why does China need their oil? Why does Russia need their oil? Why does Iran need their oil? They're not even in this continent. This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live. And we're not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States. Have specific oil companies? We also want to see that oil and the proceeds from it. |
| 1:45.3 | Hold on. |
| 1:45.7 | We want to see the oil proceeds of that country benefit the people of Venezuela. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.