← Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw
Hold These Truths with Dan Crenshaw
SITREP 27: The Venezuela Blockade, Lone Wolf Attacks, & Candace Owens' Meltdown
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We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created. As a member of Congress, I get to have a lot of really interesting people in the office, experts on what they're talking about. This is the podcast for insights into the issues. China, bioterrorism, Medicare for all in depth discussions breaking it down into simple terms. We hold. We hold. We hold these truths. We hold these truths. With Dan Crenshaw. The eagle has landed. Welcome SITREP 27 the Situation Report. Thanks for joining me as we're going to cover the the most interesting news from last week and arm you with the facts. So as you may have heard, President Trump announced a Venezuela blockade. He's ordered a total and complete blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. This dramatically escalates US pressure on Nicolas Maduro and immediately jolted oil markets. Of course, that move targets Caracas primary revenue stream. So Trump announced the blockade on Truth Social, citing terrorism, drug trafficking, human smuggling and the designation of the Venezuelan regime and Cartel de los Solas as foreign terrorist organizations. The administration has already surged forces to the region. That includes thousands of troops, nearly a dozen warships, an aircraft carrier and the coast guard may be used to continue to interdict vessels. Remember, it already has as it was in a tanker seizure last week, which of course made my fellow Navy Seals very jealous. Oil markets reacted immediately. Crude rose about 1.2%, the WTI 1.3% amid expectations that Venezuelan exports, which is about a million, potentially million barrels per day, might be disrupted. Analysts warn prices could rise 5 to $8 per barrel if supplies are not offset by OPEC spare capacity. I will tell you that if you're an American oil and gas producer, you're actually pretty excited about this and you actually might see a job resurgence. And so that these things are all have interesting effects all over the place economically. Venezuela, obviously they don't like this. They rejected the move as a grotesque threat. Maduro accused the US of seeking control over Venezuela's oil reserves and warned of further escalation as US Military activity intensifies in the region. The blockade builds on an effective embargo that's already in place after the US seized that sanctioned tanker and really. And that already had prompted dozens of vessels to remain idle in Venezuelan waters. Again, this is a, this is a dark fleet. This isn't, these are not legally flagged vessels that we're talking about. Now who's buying this stuff? Well, same names. China remains the largest buyer of Venezuelan crude. That's about 600,000 barrels per day. In December, an uncertainty persists over whether non sanctioned or authorized shipments that include Chevron operated vessels would be affected. The Chevron case is complicated. That's a U.S. company. Chevron has long had investments and assets in Venezuela. And as the Maduro regime began its freefall into outright insanity, Chevron found itself stuck with billions of dollars of investment loss if it just pulled out. So Chevron's been working with the Trump administration on a sensible path to unwind its investments without losing a ton of money early. Earlier this year, Trump granted Chevron an extension that expired at the end of May. He then renewed it again in July. The concern, of course, is that, you know, this operation props up the Maduro regime financially through taxes and royalties. And to address that concern, the Trump administration tightly restricted the extension so that Chevron cannot pay the Venezuelan government and can operate only under strict US Oversight, keeping operations just enough to protect US Interests. Again, it's, this one's a complicated one and there's opinions on both sides of where that money is, is really going. I'll just say from personal experience, you know, I never lived in Venezuela, but my family did after I graduated from high school in Bogota, Colombia and went off to college. My family being an oil and gas, you know, family, we, they moved to Caracas soon after. Went back when it was a lovely place to live. A lot of oil business, a lot of American oil business in Venezuela. And just over the years that became no American oil business. This is the last remaining part of it. Okay, moving on. Fentanyl is now a weapon of mass destruction. President Trump issued an executive order on Monday designating fentanyl weapon of mass destruction. Now, what does that mean, though? So what it means is the fact sheet explicitly instructs fence federal agencies to pursue, quote, criminal charges, sentencing enhancements and sentencing variances in fentanyl trafficking cases and to coordinate more aggressively using national security tools. The actual effects are really in litigation, sanctions and intelligence authorities because when you. The WMD framing helps justify emergency declarations, secondary sanctions, and asset blocking and forfeiture. So it's another dimension of President Trump doing what he said he was going to do. He's taking the fentanyl trafficking issue seriously and he's trying to open up more resources and authorities to combat them. Of course, the long term solution, I believe is still Congress passing additional criminal penalties, penalties for fentanyl traffickers to deter the practice altogether. My office has written that bill. Actually. It's very similar to the crack cane epidemic that, that, that scoured neighborhoods in the, in the 90s. This is the kind of thing you need to do, but you need to do it to dealers because what they're dealing is death and the consequences need to be appropriate to that. So what I'm saying is Congress needs to catch up with President Trump. Also interesting going back to January 6th, remember that pipe bomb? I remember it because it was right outside my office. And there's finally been an arrest after a five year delay. So nearly five years after pipe bombs were planted outside both the RNC and dnc. This is Right. And I say my office because RNC is, it's very much near Canon, which is where my office is. The FBI finally made an arrest. Good job, Cash Patel. But here's what makes the story interesting. It's the evidence that led to the arrest. It's, it's been in the FBI's hands for years. It just couldn't be read. Okay, so what are we talking about here? So Brian Cole Jr. Of Woodbridge, Virginia. He was taken into custody without incident and charged with transporting and planting these two improvised explosive devices on January 5, 2021, again near the RNC and the DNC. Prosecutors allegedly did so with intent to kill, injure, intimidate and maliciously destroy property. And guess by the way, the bombs are real. Okay, this was always a question where these weren't real, but the bombs were real. Now what stalled this investigation for nearly half a decade? It was again, it wasn't lack of evidence, they just couldn't read it. So a tranche of cell phone data that was provided years ago by a major carrier just sat untouched because investigators didn't have the tools to interpret it. This is, this is a common problem in law enforcement. Like you know, you think your government's in your, in your, in all your stuff and, and you can believe me or not, but they're, but they're really not. It's actually we have the opposite problem. And so only recently that a very tech savvy FBI officer or a new computer program that could finally decipher that data matching the suspect's phone movements to surveillance footage from the night the bombs were placed place. And that breakthrough finally led to Cole's identification and arrest. Crazy that he just kind of thought that he was going to get away with it and live his life in Virginia. You know, if they want to catch you, they're going to catch you, silly Cole. So Cole's initial court appearance on December 5 and judge said a future detention hearing and ordered him held without bail while the case proceeds. Now let's talk about the Brown University shooter. Found dead in a New Hampshire storage unit. Wow. Officials say he was responsible for a separate assassination earlier this week as well. So this is quite the story. I mean, a man suspected of carrying out a shooting at. Not suspected. I mean, this was the guy. You know, he carried out the shooting at Brown University last Saturday. You all heard about that? Absolutely tragic. And now he's found dead in a storage unit in New Hampshire on Thursday from a supposed self inflicted gunshot wound. Ah. Officials are also tying the suspect to another case in which an MIT professor was shot and killed in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. So let's break down here. I, I guess I can only give you the facts, but boy, this story seems like an interesting one that we'll be continuing to follow up on. So the shooting started inside a classroom in the Barriston Holly Engineering and physics building around 4pm on Saturday. The event lasted, of course, the physics kids are on a classroom. It's Saturday. The event lasted over 12 hours into early Sunday around 3:45am A person of interest was detained, but he was released that same night. He wasn't the right guy. Campus shelter in place. Order was lifted around 6am Sunday. Seven students remain in the hospital and two more have been released in stable condition. Two tragically passed away. One was 19 year old Ella Cook from Alabama. She was the vice president of Brown's College Republicans. That's, that's, that makes me sad as a Republican. 19 going to Brown has her whole life ahead of her. Probably one of the very, very, very, very, very few Republicans at Brown University. And I don't know if she was targeted or not, but I think it's Saturday time. A 19 year old kid with a bright future is killed. Like this second student who was killed, Muhammad, um. I'm sorry if I'm not getting that name perfect. He was a freshman. He was studying neuroscience from Virginia. Again, another promising student. I'm sure. Life ended too early. The university's canceled all finals. Sent students home early for Christmas break. MIT professor, let's talk about him. He was shot in his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Now, at the same time as the search for the Brown shooter turned up, no new leads. A Portuguese nuclear science and engineering professor for MIT named Nuno Lorero was shot three times in his Boston apartment on Monday around 8:30pm Passed away on Tuesday morning. All right, here's where it gets weird. Try to follow this for me here. All right, so the guy who's dead in the storage unit in New Hampshire, his name is Claudio Neves Valente. 48 year old. He's also Portuguese, just like this MIT professor. And he also studied physics in the same class as that professor when they were both at University of Lisbon Institute Superior Technico from 1995 to 2000. This same guy, this shooter, this guy was found dead in the, in the, in the storage unit. Also attended grad school at Brown University two decades ago. The suspect's alleged suicide ended this five day manhunt that began on Rounds campus in Providence, Rhode island, and ended in Salem, New Hampshire. Investigators state they're still trying to pin down the motives for both attacks. But, man, this is just. Something is very strange about this. I'm not one to, like, start saying those kind of things, but we will be keeping up with this and keep you informed. In other dramatic news, Erica Kirk, Charlie Kirk's widow. Boy, this girl's an angel. I mean, she is seeking de escalation. Well, it's already happened. She sought de escalation after weeks of conspiracies and attacks on her, her husband's death. So unhinged conspiracy theories about the violent death of her husband have been going around and, and of course, from who? Candace Owens, among others. But Candace really leading the charge on this. This is sort of her forte, isn't it? Erica says she and Candace Owens spoke privately Monday night and had a productive conversation. An effort to lower the temperature after a deeply personal and unnecessary episode. So look, what's been going on here. You haven't been following it. You know, Charlie Kirk, you know, is the, Obviously, he's, he's Charlie Kirk. He's the founder of TP usa. I would consider him a friend of mine. We worked together a lot, especially my early years, and him and Candace were very close. Started tpusa together. But she began using her platform recently for conspiratorial commentary about his death, telling audiences there was, you know, clearly more going on here, urging them to connect the dots. Like, she's taken all of her, you know, she's learned a lot from Tucker Carlson. But she went further, attacking Erica Kirk, which I think is insane, which is why I call Erica Kirk an angel for even doing this at all. And she, you know, she would ask, like, what kind of widow wouldn't want the truth? Who are you? Candace just, it makes me angry. I'm sorry. Owens even questioned Erica's grief directly. She suggested she wasn't actually sad, mocked her response as Meghan Markle syndrome and floated claims of internal betrayal and Jewish or Israeli involvement. No evidence at all, and totally contrary to true law. Enforcement findings. You know, Erica, I just can't say enough good things about this person. She didn't speak the spotlight. She's, she's, she asked for the speculation to stop. And I'll say, you know, and a lot of people have made this comments about Erica as she's been on the news, and people like, well, why is she with her kids right now? It's like, well, you know what? Leave her alone. You know, she cries, she's faking it. If she's happy, she's, you know, she obviously doesn't care. It's like, you, you know what, you, you go through what she's been through. And the thing is, I've seen a lot of young widows actually go through this. And it's hard. There's no perfect way to grieve. And for anyone criticizing Erica Kirk should be ashamed of yourself. You just really should. They had, they had real love. They had two kids. And whatever you think about Charlie or Eric, like, you know, Charlie was genuine and he was a smart guy and he was, he was, he believed in what he believed in and he led a, a truly good Christian life. And I believe Erica does as well. So Erica did this. I mean, you know, I can imagine her thoughts here. I'm just speculating, but it's, you know, she's going through enough as it is. She's probably thinking, I bet if I can, if I can just get this to stop by humbling myself and going and doing this, then I'll do it. And I think that's what she did because she doesn't want her husband's murder turned into content and conspiracy. It's cruel and it's wrong. That should go without saying, you know, wasn't politics, it was grief. So she spoke to Candace directly, said it was calm, clarifying step toward de escalation, choosing private conversation over public escalation. And one ironic twist for Candace Owens is seeing her own viewers. I like this. Seeing her own viewers attack her in the comments over video about the meeting. It seems that, seems that you know her audience and what you've created, Candace, just rage bait, click driven populism. You created it. I love it when it turns on you. Classic. So, you know, this wasn't a fight, it was a line crossed. And Erica Kirk did nothing to invite this at all. Did nothing to deserve it. And I don't think talking erases what was said, but it does again, show Erica's true, true nature. Here. She's a just do a pill peace prize, honestly, for showing such grace and restraint. And God bless her. And God bless my friend Charlie. And God bless. Let's move on to the Middle East. God bless these three Americans killed in an ISIS attack in Syria. So an ISIS attack in central Syria killed two U.S. army soldiers and an American civilian INTERPRETER this is the first American deaths we've had there since the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime last year. December 13, lone ISIS gunman carried out an ambush in Syria, killed two service members, one CIVILIAN interpreter Again, some more wounded. Now, the attack occurred near central Syria toward a town, Palmyra, while US troops were conducting key leader engagements. That's a typical word we use, Kles. It means we're going to meet with somebody who's a key leader. It's a key leader engagement. This is a pretty typical standard procedure whether we were in Iraq, Syria, wherever we were. And you know, you go to local partners, you're meeting with them, there's a lot of reasons to do that. And you're they're talking about ongoing counterterrorism operations against the Islamic State isis. But this government opened fire, hitting our soldiers, securing security forces. Return fire, killed, killed the attacker. Two fallen service members were confirmed to be Iowa National Guard soldiers and three additional Iowa Guard members who were wounded. Two Syrian security personnel were also injured. Now, for context, there's about a thousand American troops in Syria, a significant drawdown from the roughly 2,000 deployed there when we had when the Assad regime was in power. Per the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force. That's a problem. Syrian government denies affiliation with the shooter and even claims American troops ignored warnings of a potential ISIS attack. So, look, we don't know the truth yet. We're going to be looking into this. The story is a little murky and the official version leaves a lot of questions unanswered and is in Congress that we just, we will be looking into it. It's got a lot of tragedy lately, folks. You've saw this mass shooting in Bondi Beach, Australia. It was an annual beachside Hanukkah celebration and it turned into a massacre, an absolute massacre with two gunmen. A father and son opened fire on worshipers gathered at Archer park in Bondi Beach. So this was their annual Shabbat community event celebrate the beginning of Hanukkah. And the father and son perched on a footbridge overlooking the park opened fire on around 1,000 people in attendance. They did it with a bolt action rifle and a shotgun. These are both legal in Australia, so they're allowed to have some guns and, but you know, if you're good with a bolt action rifle and you know these, these bolt action rifles of course still still have magazines, do a lot of damage. And from the videos, if you've seen them, this guy was a, was, was very good with a bolt action rifle. His, he's very fast with it and shot it almost as quickly as any typical semi automatic. And of course the shotgun can be shot as a semi automatic or as a, maybe it was a pump. In any case, the two fired on unarmed civilians for about 10 minutes. So 15 people actually were shot and killed. Among them a 10 year old girl, a rabbi, retired police officer and a Holocaust survivor. Who are these people? Navid Akram, 24 year old, who alleged shooter. He's been charged with 59 offenses including 15 murder charges. His father, Sajid Akram, 50, died at the scene. And needless to say, this is, this is an Islamic terrorist attack on Jews. Okay, I'm making, I'm making that statement myself but it's, I think that's pretty obvious and needs to be said at the, at the head here. Every single victim that died from these maniacs was Jewish and police have declared it an anti Semitic terrorist attack. Here I want to recognize Ahmed Al Ahmed actually he's a 43 year old bystander and he was recorded, you've seen this video, it's pretty good. He's recorded charging and tackling the elder gunman, seizing his weapon and pointing it at the open gunman. But he didn't pull the trigger, forced his retreat. Ahmed was shot and hospitalized in the, in the process, I assume by police. So Mr. Ahmed, we salute your bravery in the face of terror. Also worth noting, see, it's this, it's, it's the extremists that unfortunately are difficult to find on the, on these sort of lone wolf attacks planned only in secret and very difficult to detect. This is sort of the norm that we've seen with terrorist attacks, right? There's not these giant big operations, there's these difficult to detect lone wolf attacks. In any case, Naveed Akram, whatever time he gets in prison won't be enough. He might not even make it. I understand he's in critical condition. So let's pray for all those who are affected at this time, the wounded, then the family of those who we lost real quick on the Tick Tock deal. Tick Tock actually finally signed a deal on Thursday to sell a majority of its U.S. business to three American companies. Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX will collectively secure just under 50% ownership once the deal closes in January, By Dance will retain a 19.9% stake. But critically, US user data will be stored and managed under the system run by Oracle on American soil. That's basically what we wanted. This might actually get me to open up a TikTok account. This agreement comes after months of uncertainty for TikTok's roughly 170 million American users and followers. Because the legal requirements that we put in place in Congress for ByteDance to divest or sell its U S operations now Tick Tock is currently owned. This is why we do this again. Quick refresh. It's owned by a Chinese company which is subject to Chinese Communist Party intelligence laws. Those laws very clearly state that CCP can compel and access to data or shape algorithms behind the scenes. It could compel anyone who is a Chinese citizen anything to be part of your intelligence apparatus. That, that is a law in China. I guess if you're a private company in the US the CIA can't make you do something for them. In China they can. Okay, so that's a problem now because of that risk and their ability to manipulate information, harvest data on Americans. What I worry about when I tell people is like you might not care that your data is shared and a lot of 17 year olds don't care. Like what data do I have that matters? The Chinese have. Well the thing is is they can use that to shake public opinion because they put that in algorithms, they put that into AI and they've got like control of 170 million people. And that propaganda tool is extremely powerful if they choose to use it. So this is a good step in the right direction for America ownership. But it, it's not quite the full separation that we wanted and we need to stay vigilant to ensure this isn't just a cosmetic fix that leaves Beijing with leverage. So we'll continue to look at this. Remember this is, this, this is, this is quite the weapon should they choose to use it like I wish I had, I wish I had something that could just propagandize to, to millions and millions of Chinese citizens. You know that'd be very helpful for our national security. Here's some your media bias of the week. Yesterday a full blown media meltdown occurred over an alleged Christian nationalist flag flying above the Small Business Administration. Now the flag, the media said it bore ties to insurrectionists, terrorists and hate groups and all those big scary things. Okay, what was the actual flag? It's one you've probably seen before. It's the pine tree flag. It's an appeal to Heaven flag. This flag was flown during the American Revolution. It's borrowing a phrase that appears in John Lock's second Treaty Zone Government which describes the right of the people to revolution. It was a state flag of Massachusetts until 1971. It it harkens back to our Founding Fathers in the and the pivotal moments of the American Revolution and Realization Foundation. This idea that the pine tree flag is in some way hateful or racist is stupid, historical, ahistorical. And it's a little bit ironic that the head of the Department of Education's union who criticized it doesn't know a single thing about American history. Isn't that ironic? Maybe that's why that department has to go. All right, other developing headlines really quick. Chile elected a solid conservative conservative candidate Jose Antonio cast as their next president following campaigns centered on civil security, crime, immigration. This is important to us because they're basically pro U. S. Also of news, Ford has pulled the plug on the all electric F150 Lightning pickup truck. It's halted production on their flagship electric pickup. It's going to direct focus towards hybrids, smaller, cheaper electric vehicles. Says the move is following customer demand. Reality that all Electric Lightning was just a a money loser. Makes sense. Hybrids make more sense. Okay. Read nothing else. Here's a suggestion for you. Check out Jacob Savage's the Lost Generation. It's a fascinating work on the victims of the DEI craze and that washed young white men out of media, academia and the arts. If that's of interest to you. That's it for the Sit Rep. Thanks for listening. Have a great one.