White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the U.S. government "does intend to seize the oil" from a tanker that U.S. forces took Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela.
Watch Karoline Leavitt's briefing in our video player above.
Speaking at the White House press briefing Thursday, Leavitt said the Justice Department had received a warrant to take the tanker because it's a sanctioned vessel used to carry "black market" oil.
She said the U.S. has an investigative team on the tanker. The team is interviewing the people aboard the ship and collecting any relevant evidence.
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Leavitt said the U.S. government will follow the legal process required to seize the available oil and wouldn't rule out future tanker seizures.
Asked if the incident Wednesday was a one-off or if the U.S. might take similar actions in the future, Leavitt said she wouldn't broadcast future military plans.
But she added, "We're not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world."
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Leavitt added that the Trump administration is "executing on the president's sanctions policies" and defending the sanctions policies of the U.S.
The press secretary also told reporters the administration will appeal a federal judge's order for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from immigration detention while he fights to stay in the United States.
The decision marks a significant win for Abrego Garcia, whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador became a flashpoint of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Leavitt told reporters the White House opposes the "activism" from the judge and will "continue to fight this legal battle in court."
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national with an American wife and child, has lived in Maryland for years but entered the U.S. illegally as a teenager.
An immigration judge ruled in 2019 that he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced danger from a gang that targeted his family.
When he was mistakenly sent there in March, his case became a rallying point for those who oppose President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement actions.
Trump 'prepared to take action on health care costs'
Leavitt was asked about the looming expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies after the Senate's rejection of legislation that would have extended the tax credits.
The briefing came just after the chamber rejected a Democratic bill to extend the subsidies for three years and a Republican alternative that would have created new health savings accounts.
Also blaming Democrats for the Obama-era health care bill, which she noted was passed "without a single Republican vote," Leavitt argued that Democrats had "ballooned" the program "with these expensive COVID subsidies that completely distorted the health insurance market."
Trump 'extremely frustrated' with lack of Ukraine peace progress
Leavitt said discussions continue and the U.S. could send a representative to those discussions as soon as this weekend "if there is a real chance of signing a peace agreement."
But she added that it's "still up in the air whether real peace can be achieved."
Trump took office in January suggesting he could solve Russia's war in Ukraine quickly but has spent months complaining bitterly about a lack of progress. Leavitt said the president is "extremely frustrated with both sides of this war."
"And he's sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting," Leavitt said. "He doesn't want any more talk. He wants action."
Tariffs means children's dolls might cost 'a dollar or two more'
Leavitt said the president was trying to defend his tariffs when he said at a rally Tuesday that Americans should buy fewer dolls and pencils for their children.
Trump was saying his tariffs are bringing back factory jobs and products made domestically might cost more, Leavitt said.
"Maybe you'll pay a dollar or two more, but you will get better quality and you'll be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American," Leavitt said. "And that's what the president was saying."
The answer reflected some of the challenges that the administration faces on the import taxes imposed by Trump, which most economists say have added to inflationary pressures.
The White House has previously maintained that foreign countries would pay the taxes and that there would be little to no inflation domestically.