John Fetterman says Trump’s blockade on Venezuelan oil shipments ‘makes a lot of sense’

Sen. John Fetterman has come out in support of President Donald Trump’s blockade of Venezuelan oil shipments in yet another move that will surely rankle fellow Democrats.

Fetterman appeared via NewsNation on Tuesday night with host Chris Cuomo, who read a rambling post by Trump on his Truth Social platform in which he said Venezuela is “surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.”

Bizarrely, Trump vowed that the blockade would grow until Venezuela returned “Oil, Land, and other Assets” that it has allegedly stolen from the United States.

Trump on Venezuela: "Getting land, oil rights, whatever we had -- they took it away because we had a president that maybe wasn't watching. But they're not gonna do that. We want it back. They took our oil rights. We had a lot of oil there. They threw our companies out. And we… pic.twitter.com/qP6DhQGNY5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 17, 2025

Trump went on to accuse Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s administration of taking money from “stolen Oil Fields” and financing “Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping.”

Cuomo asked Fetterman what Venezuela had stolen and what he made of Trump’s comments.

“What makes it is that Iran is involved on that and Russia is involved on that and China as well, too. I mean … that’s sanctioned oil right now,” said Fetterman, “and those are the kinds of funds that support regimes like in Iran as well, too. 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 and those are the kinds of funds that are used all kinds of illicit things (garbled) terrorism so for me it makes a lot of sense.”

BREAKING VIDEO: Sen. Fetterman splits from Democrats, takes staunch pro-Trump stand on historic blockade of Venezuela.

H/T: @atrupar pic.twitter.com/L3fns95W77

— The Western Journal (@WesternJournalX) December 17, 2025

This latest stance will likely further drive a wedge between Fetterman and Democrats already weary of his support for some Trump nominees and policies, such as immigration, and Israel; his vote to end the federal government shutdown without a deal to extend Obamacare subsidies now set to expire; and his willingness to continue scolding Democrats for their responses to Trump’s actions.

A clip of Fetterman discussing Trump’s comments and the blockade was widely shared by conservatives on social media.

Fetterman also defended the U.S. military strikes on boats leaving Venezuela supposedly carrying drugs, attacks that have been criticized as war crimes.

Asked about a briefing he attended on the strikes, Fetterman said U.S. authorities have “absolute confidence” in what and who is on the targeted boats through “extensive intelligence.”

Fetterman said media reports portraying the military as randomly attacking boats are not accurate.