Venezuela blockade; Susie Wiles interviews; plastic chemicals; and more
The 7
The Washington Post
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Wednesday, December 17. The seven stories you need to know today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers to and from Venezuela. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post. I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Wednesday, December 17th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. |
| 0:30.3 | Yesterday evening on Truth Social, the president announced a total and complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. It was a major escalation in Trump's |
| 0:37.2 | months-long pressure campaign against the government |
| 0:40.0 | of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela's economy is already struggling, and it depends on |
| 0:47.3 | overseas oil sales. These sales are primarily to China, and are often carried on sanctioned vessels. |
| 0:55.1 | Trump also declared the Venezuelan government a foreign terrorist organization. |
| 1:00.7 | It was unclear whether Trump was declaring a new such organization or if he was referring to a |
| 1:06.2 | previously designated cartel. But if Trump does intend to designate the Maduro government a foreign terrorist |
| 1:12.9 | organization, that would be a first. Last week, U.S. forces in the Caribbean seized one sanctioned |
| 1:20.1 | vessel loaded with oil after it left Venezuela. Since September, the U.S. military has also |
| 1:26.6 | launched air attacks on two dozen small boats |
| 1:29.6 | allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela. At least 95 people have died in those attacks. |
| 1:40.9 | President Trump defended his White House chief of staff over her unguarded interviews. |
| 1:47.5 | That's number two. |
| 1:49.5 | Yesterday, Vanity Fair published two articles after conducting a series of 11 on-the-record interviews with Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles. |
| 1:59.9 | According to Vanity Fair, Wiles insulted several top officials. |
| 2:04.8 | For example, she described President Trump as having, quote, an alcoholic's personality. |
| 2:11.3 | She also said Attorney General Pam Bondi completely whiffed in handling the Epstein files. |
| 2:20.0 | And she called billionaire Elon Musk, |
| 2:26.7 | quote, an odd, odd duck. After the articles were published, Trump praised Wiles and attacked Vanity Fair. It was part of an outpouring of support for Wiles from officials. But the articles |
| 2:33.2 | caught Wiles and her staff by surprise. |
| 2:36.6 | Two people close to her said she thought her conversations were for a book, |
... |
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