Hi there, from CNN. I'm Charlie Drever with The Five Things You Need to Know for Thursday, December 11th.

We start with the oil tanker seized by the US off the coast of Venezuela.

Attorney General Pam Bondi says the US sanctioned the tanker because of, quote, an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,

including Venezuela and Iran.

And yesterday's incident comes as President Donald Trump ramps up his pressure campaign on Venezuela's

President Nicolas Maduro, as CNN's Christian Holmes explains.

The two leaders spoke roughly two weeks ago.

I was told at that time by a White House official that President Trump had issued somewhat of an ultimatum.

Unclear if this was part of that. Up until now, all we've seen is those strikes on boats, generally off the coast of Venezuela, these alleged narco-terrorism boats.

President Trump, he has threatened strikes on land,

but so far that's all that has been, is just those threats. And the seizure is clearly

a vast or a major escalation in this pressure campaign as we see President Trump and his administration

trying to essentially remove Maduro from office.

More news coming up, including the latest on the Washington flooding.

Another round of heavy rain in Washington state has led to evacuations and water rescues,

as rivers rise towards record levels.

Governor Bob Ferguson has signed an emergency proclamation and says the Skagit River is set to rise at least six feet above its previous record.

As of yesterday afternoon, nearly 6 million people were under flood alerts in western Washington.

The National Weather Service has given a dire forecast yesterday evening for Skagit and Snohomish

rivers, and Skagit County officials are urging anyone living in FEMA's 100-year floodplain

to prepare to evacuate at a moment's notice, adding it's possible that flooding could reach

beyond those areas.

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