US Pursues Third Venezuelan Tanker; Justice Department Delays Some Epstein Files

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1:02Bloomberg Audio Studios. Podcasts. Radio. News. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager. And I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. And Karen, oil is on the rise this morning as the U.S. ramps up its pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The Coast Guard is pursuing a third oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, intensifying a blockade that the Trump administration imposed earlier this month. We get more from Bloomberg's Clara Ferreira Marquez. It's really a very significant ratcheting up of U.S. efforts to cut off what is a key financial lifeline for the Venezuelan economy.

1:42Remember that the Venezuelan oil industry is really decimated relative to what it was perhaps years or decades ago. But it is still the political system has withstood quite a lot of this pressure. The question now is how much more of this can it take? Bloomberg's Clara Ferreira Marquez reports the pursuit of the latest vessel, Bella One, comes after the Coast Guard boarded a non-sanctioned ship for the first time earlier in the weekend. Another very large crewed carrier, the Skipper, was intercepted on December 10th. China is accusing the U.S. of violating international law through these seizures.

2:15Venezuela ships most of its crew to China through intermediaries using so-called Dark Fleet tankers. Well, Nathan, President Trump is nominating Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as U.S. Special Envoy to Greenland to advance U.S. interests. The position would be a new one for the U.S., which has an ambassador to Denmark. Greenland is an autonomous Danish-dependent territory with self-government and is its own parliament. It's the latest signal that the president is looking at increasing U.S. influence over the island he suggested he wants to purchase. And elsewhere in Washington, Karen, the Trump administration's defending its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

2:52That's after several images from the Justice Department's hundreds of thousands of documents were removed from the agency's website over the weekend. One of them was a photo of the future President Trump in a desk drawer full of photographs. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche says this has nothing to do with the president. You can see in that photo there's photographs of women. And so we learned after releasing that photograph that there were concerns about those women and the fact that we had put that photo up. So we pulled that photo down. It has nothing to do with President Trump. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch appeared on NBC's Meet the Press.

3:25That photo was restored to the website last night. But Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna still has questions about heavily redacted documents that were included in the Justice Department's release. The redactions were excessive, and even Harvard law professionals who have looked at that have said, you can't redact internal communications, you can't redact workforce product, and the courts are going to find that these were excessive. Democrat Ro Khanna was a guest on CBS's Face the Nation, and you can hear Face the Nation and Meet the Press every Sunday on Bloomberg Radio. Well, Nathan, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett says a Supreme Court ruling that scraps Donald Trump's tariffs and refunds the import fees collected would create a major administrative problem.

4:09We really expect the Supreme Court is going to find with us. And I also think that if they didn't find with us, that it's going to be pretty unlikely that they're going to call for widespread refunds because it would be an administrative problem to get those refunds out there. But basically, whoever paid the tariff, like actually cut the check to buy the thing, would be the person who would be getting the refund if there were one. Has it on CBS's Face the Nation. You can catch the program Sunday afternoons on Bloomberg Radio. The Supreme Court is weighing a legal challenge to tariffs Trump imposed on dozens of nations under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

4:47Administration officials have drawn up options for reimposing import taxes in case of an adverse ruling. Let's turn now, Karen, to the latest on the war in Ukraine. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says Trump administration officials held, quote, productive and constructive meetings with Ukrainian and European counterparts in Florida. Witkoff's comments follow last week's EU financial commitment to Ukraine. We get more from Bloomberg chief Europe correspondent Oliver Crook. Imagine that you and I are negotiating something. I'm sitting across the table from you and I have no money in the bank account versus$100 billion in the bank account.

5:19And that is the difference between today and two weeks ago for the Ukrainians. They now have this lifeline that was put out by the Europeans, 90 billion euro loan in the form of debt that is basically backed by the European Union, not necessarily in the form of those Russian assets. But that is absolutely consequential and very monumental in terms of getting the negotiating position. What it tells the Russians, and this is what the Ukrainian and the European point has been from the very beginning, is that this war will not be ended very, very swiftly. And Bloomberg's Oliver Crook says Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is casting doubt on Russia's commitment to end the war.

5:52We turn to the markets now, Nathan, where futures are higher as we begin a holiday-shortened trading week. The Nasdaq 100 is poised to wipe out December's losses as revived appetite for technology stocks is powering gains across global equity markets. Rebecca Patterson, the former chief investment strategist at Bridgewater Associates, says the market has momentum going into 2026. I'll call it cautious optimism is warranted and it's reasonable. You've got monetary stimulus. We can question how much, but it's going in that direction. Fiscal stimulus at the margin, especially with the tax refunds we're going to get in the spring.

6:28deregulation, AI CapEx continuing, big capital spending, and maybe a little less volatility around trade. And that's former Bridgewater Associates Chief Investment Strategist Rebecca Patterson. The Nasdaq is at more than 20 percent so far this year. And this morning, Karen, gold, silver, and copper are all trading at records, escalating geopolitical tensions and bets on further U.S. rate cuts are adding momentum to gold's best annual performance in more than four decades. Martin Ritchie covers commodities for Bloomberg. We're in very uncertain times geopolitically. And in this kind of period, it's when gold does tend to does tend to shine.

7:05And that's not going to change anytime soon. And as I said, there's not a lot, a huge amount of money, private investor money in gold so far. And the more that does go into that market, given all those fears, the more you could see gold rise. Bloomberg's Martin Ritchie says gold's headed for its strongest annual gain since 1979, and the gains continue this morning with COMEX gold up 1.4%, trading at$4 ,448.70 per ounce. Well, Nathan, another win at the box office for Disney. Your goddess has no dominion here. Fire and Ash was the highest grossing film at the box office this weekend with an$88 million domestic debut.

7:50It also opened number one in China, delivering a strong debut just weeks after the entertainment giant Zootopia 2 broke records for a foreign animated film in the country.

8:04Time now for a look at some of the other stories making news in New York and around the world. And for that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Michael Barr. Michael, welcome back. Thank you very much, Karen. Rapper Nicki Minaj Sunday put her full support to President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on the last day of the annual Turning Point USA convention in Phoenix. It is the first time the organization met since its founder, late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was assassinated in September. His widow and now Turning Point USA CEO Erica Kirk endorsed Vance for president in 2028. Yesterday, Vance touted Trump administration accomplishments.

8:43We have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs. Vice President Vance went on to say the conservative movement should welcome anyone who loves America. The USA is experiencing a surge of the flu this season. The CDC has already tallied up more than four million cases. Dr. Benjamin Abella is the chair of emergency medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. The flu shots are effective and safe for people as young as six months of age. We definitely recommend the flu shot. It is not too late and it can greatly reduce the risk of serious disease and even hospitalization.

9:23So far, the flu has killed 2 ,000 people, including two children. New York, Rhode Island and Louisiana are some of the states seeing very high levels of flu activity. New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani takes over to leave the city when the ball drops on New Year's Day. Mamdani announced that he is throwing a giant block party for his inauguration. After the swearing-in ceremony at City Hall, music and performances will fill Broadway. Mamdani spoke during a social media video. This is not my victory. This is ours. In a written statement Sunday, Mamdani says this inauguration is a celebration of the movement we built, the mandate we won, and the city we are prepared to lead.

10:09Global News, 24 hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News Now. I'm Michael Barr and this is Bloomberg, Karen. All right, Michael Barr, thank you. Thanks, Michael. Time now for our Bloomberg Sports Update. And for that, we bring in John Stashauer. Thanks, Karen. Close division races in the AFC. The Patriots last night rallied in the fourth quarter and won in Baltimore, 28-24. The Pats stay a game ahead of Buffalo in the east. The Bills won in Cleveland. Pittsburgh won at Detroit and now has a two-game lead on the Ravens in the north. Jacksonville, six straight win, 34-20 in Denver.

10:43The Jaguars lead Houston by a game in the south. The Texans beat the Raiders. The Broncos lost and the Chargers win at Dallas. L.A. trails by a game. That's your Bloomberg Sports Update. Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Daybreak coming up after this. I'm Joe Matthew, inviting you to join me for the Balance of Power podcast. Every day we deliver insight and analysis on the latest headlines from the White House and Capitol Hill, including breaking news from Bloomberg's reporters and in-depth conversations with lawmakers and administration officials that you won't hear anywhere else. What are the policy changes the Trump administration is making that affect Washington and Wall Street and drive your investment decisions.

11:27From tariffs to taxes, the rules are constantly changing, which is why you need to listen every day. We do it all live each weekday, then bring you the best conversations in the daily podcast. Catch up on the headlines you missed while you were at work. Listen on your way home for the top news of the day, straight from our nation's capital and around the world. That's the Balance of Power podcast with me, Joe Matthew, and Kaylee Lines. Listen on Apple, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

12:01Coast to coast on Bloomberg Radio, nationwide on Sirius XM, and around the world on Bloomberg.com and the Bloomberg Business app. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning, I'm Nathan Hager. In the U.S. pressure campaign against Nicholas Maduro, is kicking into higher gear this morning with the Coast Guard in pursuit of another sanctioned vessel off the Venezuelan coast. It is the third tanker to be targeted under an intensifying blockade. And joining us for the very latest this morning is Bloomberg's DC breaking news editor, Alexander Pearson. Alex, good morning. What do we know about this vessel that the U.S.

12:36is pursuing and all the others that it's been intercepting in just the last couple of weeks? Good morning. Good morning, Nathan. Yeah, so the latest that we know is that the US is still pursuing this vessel. That was announced yesterday, and the latest, we haven't had any confirmation that it's been boarded yet. So we know that it's still in pursuit. And this comes after just a day earlier over the weekend, the US boarded actually another vessel that was full of Venezuelan crude that was leaving Venezuela. And then that came after A couple of weeks ago, the U.S. intercepted the very first oil tanker off the coast of Texas.

13:21And so, yeah, it's all part of this intensifying campaign by the Trump administration to blockade oil exports from Venezuela. And we're seeing a bit of a reaction in the oil market this morning with both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude up 1 percent in the session. Could this have a broader impact on the crude market globally, Alex? it certainly could have a small impact and you know in terms of the day after price movements there will probably you know there's always a bit of a spike after these incidents but in the broader context of things it's unlikely to have any kind of you know long-term impact on on global crude prices that largely has to do with the fact that while Venezuela has a lot of reserves of oil it actually is quite a small player in the global oil market right now it Its exports only account for just under 1 % of global demand.

14:12That has a lot to do with U.S. pressure so far. And so in terms of that impact, it's not likely to have a major impact. Also because actually the global, there's a lot of glut in the oil markets right now going into 2026. Are we seeing any sign that this is having any impact on the Maduro regime? Of course, we don't have just this blockade, but we have the ongoing military strikes on suspected drug running boats as well. So far, the Maduro government has been quite defiant in terms of all of these tactics that the Trump administration has used. You mentioned the strikes on suspected narco-terrorist boats.

14:53Trump has also authorized covert CIA operations in the country. He's also threatened land strikes on targets within Venezuela, and he's even refused to rule out a full war with Venezuela. So the pressure is very much there. But the Maduro government so far has, you know, defied that and has claimed that it can keep on going. But with now this latest oil blockade, you know, it's really unclear whether it can, given how much pressure it's putting on the key source of revenue for this government. Got about a minute left here, Alex. We see on the White House schedule that President Trump has an announcement this afternoon with the secretaries of defense and the Navy.

15:31What are we expecting to come out of that announcement, if anything? That's right. We did get that update this morning. It's actually unclear at the moment in terms of what exactly they're going to speak about. Given everything that happened over the weekend with the boarding of this one tanker and the pursuit of another, and just the growing escalation against Venezuela, it seems highly likely that they'll address this issue in particular. But we've heard nothing from the administration so far to confirm that, you know, that will be the topic or what exactly they will announce with, you know, within that policy on Venezuela.

16:06This is Bloomberg Daybreak, your morning podcast on the stories making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed by 6 a.m. Eastern each morning on Apple, Spotify or anywhere else you listen. You can also listen live each morning starting at 5 a.m. Wall Street time on Bloomberg 1130 in New York, Bloomberg 99.1 in Washington, Bloomberg 92.9 in Boston, and nationwide on Sirius XM Channel 121. Plus, listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app now with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto interfaces. And don't forget to subscribe to Bloomberg News Now. It's the latest news whenever you want it in five minutes or less.

16:46Search Bloomberg News Now on your favorite podcast platform to stay informed all day long. I'm Karen Moscow. And I'm Nathan Hager. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg Daybreak.

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