Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson made a startling claim that President Donald Trump may use his upcoming televised address to announce war with Venezuela.Carlson was speaking on the online show Judging Freedom. The right-winger said he was told by a member of Congress that lawmakers had been briefed ahead of Trump’s planned 9 pm address. “Members of Congress were briefed yesterday that a war [with Venezuela] is coming, and it will be announced in [Trump’s] address to the administration tonight,” Carlson said, according to a transcript shared on social media. However, he was also not sure whether the MAGA chief would actually make such an announcement of waging a full-scale war.Trump’s address comes amid sour US-Venezuela relations, where his administration has stepped up military actions against the neighbor on a questionable scale. Earlier this week, Trump ordered a full naval blockade on oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuelan waters. He described it as a response to Venezuela’s “theft” of US oil and other assets. The blockade is part of a bigger US military stance in the region that has included a major naval deployment in the Caribbean, airstrikes on suspected drug‑trafficking vessels, and the seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker off the nation’s coast. US lawmakers from both parties are not sure about the scope of these operations. Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen warned that the Pentagon’s actions could be seen as probing “unauthorised acts of war.” On the other hand, Republican Senator Rand Paul described recent moves as an “initiation of war.”Venezuela’s government has condemned the US blockade. They called it a violation of international law and a threat to regional stability.Despite Carlson’s claims, there is no official confirmation that Trump plans to declare war. Under the US Constitution, a formal declaration of war requires congressional approval, and lawmakers have already introduced resolutions to prevent military escalation without legislative authorisation.A controversial US military strike on a boat linked to Venezuelan drug trafficking occurred in mid-September, when Trump announced that American forces had carried out the operation in international waters, killing three people the administration described as “positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists” heading toward the United States. Trump said the strike was ordered by him, and he posted a short unclassified video of the boat exploding at sea after the operation. This strike followed an earlier attack on September 2, 2025, which killed 11 people.
