ABC News program The View was channeling Venezuela’s communist Maduro regime during Thursday’s show when a majority of the cast engaged in their usual anti-Trump screeching; this time triggered by the U.S. legally seizing a sanctioned oil tanker. Despite the ship’s sanction being issued by the Biden administration and the fact that the Coast Guard had a warrant, they were eager to accuse President Trump of “piracy,” and claimed all Americans were complicit. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg seeming ignorant of the sanctions on the ship and nor was she concerned about its shady history. Instead, she was busy suggesting the seizure was just a distraction. “I mean, okay, he seized a tanker. What is it really? What is it really? Is this more let's not talk about Epstein?” she declared. She also cooked up a crazy scenario where China was supposedly going to retaliate against the U.S. Of course, she skimped on the details of what she meant: The Chinese get their oil from Venezuela. So, what happens if they get on their -- the side of the Venezuelans and say, this is not right? What happens if there's retaliation? All these guys in power now seem to be living on bases all over the country somehow. Somehow they're living on Army bases and stuff. Who’s going to pay if there’s retaliation?   Either ignorant that the Venezuelan oil tanker seized by the U.S. Coast Guard was sanctioned by the Biden administration for selling to terrorist groups and flying false flags or trying to hide that fact, The View claims it was seized to distract from the Epstein files. They also… pic.twitter.com/As8WWPiDRb — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 11, 2025   Sorry Whoopi, but China wasn’t going to do jack all for Nicholas Maduro. They had closer ties with Iran and didn’t do anything after the U.S. bombed their nuclear enrichment facilities. At one point in the segment, Goldberg started to spew her anti-America hatred. According to her, “We have a lot of nerve doing this” because America was awful and supposedly a puppet state to Russia: [W]e are watching the country get run into the ground and we are in bed with the Russians, with all the people that were -- that I thought we were not supposed to be sanctioning and partying – Not partying with but working with. And so, I'm not sure what we're trying to do anymore because we don't seem to have a clear – a clear thing.   Whoopi proclaims that America "as a lot of nerve" to seize the ship because America is so awful and a Russian puppet state: "We have a lot of nerve doing this because we are running -- we are watching the country get run into the ground. And we are in bed with the Russians, with… pic.twitter.com/CrWav0NPEh — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 11, 2025   Her clownish sidekick Joy Behar agreed that the seizure was just an attempt to distract. She suggested that Trump was going to start a war to distract from the Epstein files; and reached way back into her Bush bashing tool kit to claim he was doing it for the oil: Do you remember the movie Wag the Dog? The movie was a U.S. president, I think Dustin Hoffman. Starts a war in Albania to distract from a sex scandal weeks before an election. That's the movie. Sound familiar? And the "U.S.S. Epstein" is at the dock right now. Plus the fact that now we know it was about oil. We were wondering why does he keep going to Venezuela? Now, we know.   A la 'Wag the Dog,' The View claims Trump seized the tanker in order to start a war to distract from his scandals. Joy Behar and Sara Haines claims he wants to invade Venezuela for the oil. pic.twitter.com/XCdVF5OMdT — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 11, 2025   Despite also suggesting that Trump was interested in invading Venezuela for the oil, co-host Sara Haines did note, “this move specifically on this tanker might be a good thing” because the ship was servicing America’s adversaries like China, Iran, and Russia. “This is something the European Union has sanctions with them, Canada has sanctions with them, the U.S. has sanctions. They came in with a warrant on this ship,” she argued. “This was a legal seizure of an oil tanker. And a lot of what they’re saying is that this is also going to de-incentivize black market ships from stopping in Venezuela and taking this oil to enemy nations.” Behar’s weak mind couldn’t wrap itself around what Haines was talking about and baselessly blurted out that the tanker was blown up. When confronted on the lie, she scoffed: BEHAR: So, if they took the oil to enemy nations, what does that mean? HAINES: Well, it was supplying some terrorist regimes for years now. FARAH GRIFFIN: And they’re sanctioned by the U.S. government. It is unlawful. BEHAR: But so, you can just blow up all the ships that are doing it?! FARAH GRIFFIN: It’s not blown up. We seized it. BEHAR: Well, whatever!   Haines finally admits that the tanker was seized legally and that the U.S. and the E.U. had sanctioned the tanker. Behar scoffs at why delivering oil to "enemy nations" is a bad thing and falsely claims the ship was blown up. pic.twitter.com/pNYW4z8VkE — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 11, 2025   We know you work for ABC News Joy, but facts matter. They’re not “whatever.” In the same week that she stepped up to defend accused assassin Luigi Mangione and the chaos of Somalia (where actual pirates operated freely), former federal prosecutor Sunny Hostin insisted that the federal seizure warrant didn’t mean anything and it was still illegal. She then accused Trump of being a “pirate” and said America was complicit: It's unclear whether or not this was legal. A federal judge did issue this seizure warrant that you're referring to, roughly about two weeks ago, because of this particular ship's past activity smuggling Iranian oil. And that's typically used to finance terrorist activity. So, I understand that piece. But the piece that I don't understand is that the President of the United States is almost acting as if he’s a pirate and the United States is -- you know, we're just a group of pirates. Because some legal experts will tell you that the U.S. has no jurisdiction to enforce unilateral sanctions on non-U.S. persons outside of its territory. And I'm sort of in that space. Leave it up to Hostin to parrot Maduro’s regime on national television.   Despite the tanker being seized legally, Sunny Hostin claims that Trump is "acting as if he is a pirate and the United States we're just a group of pirates." Adding: "Who are we to board a ship even with a U.S. federal judge's seizure warrant and then keep the oil? That to me… pic.twitter.com/dqIl30YWyg — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 11, 2025   “Who are we to board a ship even with U.S. federal judge's seizure warrant and then keep the oil? That to me feels a lot like corruption, it feels a lot like to me imperialism, it feels a lot like me to fascism,” she sneered. “And so, while it may be cloaked in an appearance of legality, I still question that.” Looks like Hostin needed to go back to law school to learn about forfeiture. Interestingly, co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin found some courage to speak out against Hostin’s nonsense and pointed out that things like this happened all the time. “We do sanction terrorist organizations and regimes that are associated with them all over the world and we do seize assets that could support terrorist activities,” she said. “This is long-standing throughout the Middle East. It’s news because it’s in the western hemisphere.”   Alyssa Farah Griffin notes that this has been standard procedure for a long time:"We do sanction terrorist organizations and regimes that are associated with them all over the world and we do seize assets that could support terrorist activities. This is long-standing throughout… pic.twitter.com/l7F8ubdIkf — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 11, 2025   And not just the U.S. It’s likely a majority of The View were too ignorant to know that earlier in the year Germany seized one of the tanker’s in Russia’s shadow fleet. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View December 11, 2025 11:03:18 a.m. Eastern (…) WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I don't understand -- I mean, okay, he seized a tanker. What is it really? What is it really? Is this more let's not talk about Epstein? JOY BEHAR: Yes. Yes. GOLDBERG: Let's not talk about Hegseth? What is this, because what happens if the people who support Venezuela like, I don't know -- BEHAR: Like Venezuelans. GOLDBERG: The Chinese get their oil from Venezuela. ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: The Russians. GOLDBERG: So, what happens if they get on their -- the side of the Venezuelans and say, this is not right? What happens if there's retaliation? All these guys in power now seem to be living on bases all over the country somehow. Somehow they're living on Army bases and stuff. Who’s going to pay if there retaliation? BEHAR: We are. We are. Can I just read? Do you remember the movie Wag the Dog? The movie was a U.S. president, I think Dustin Hoffman. SARA HAINES: Yes. BEHAR: Starts a war in Albania to distract from a sex scandal weeks before an election. That's the movie. Sound familiar? And the "U.S.S. Epstein" is at the dock right now. Plus the fact that now we know it was about oil. We were wondering why does he keep going to Venezuela? Now, we know. HAINES: Well, we did talk about here over and over, was this – Because it clearly wasn't about drugs when he kept stress these boats because people knew the drugs weren't headed for the U.S. and – Over and over was it regime change or was it the oil? We're now realizing oil is part of it. But this move specifically on this tanker might be a good thing. And I say that because my first reaction when Trump's involved and a lot of the people he puts in office, you're like, ‘what the hell are they doing?’ There's no faith in the system. There's no transparency especially after all these boats were attacked. But this is supposedly and I actually kind of deep dove into this topic about sanctioned oil and it is diverting oil that could be going to China, Russia. FARAH GRIFFIN: And Iran. HAINES: And Iran who are not -- they're adversarial nations to us. This is something the European Union has sanctions with them, Canada has sanctions with them, the U.S. has sanctions. They came in with a warrant on this ship. There was actually a warrant to go after this ship because what they're trying to do – BEHAR: How quaint. HAINES: Well, no. You’ve got to call - SUNNY HOSTIN: A federal judge did issue a seizure warrant. That's true. [Crosstalk] HAINES: We criticize all the time about the illegal things. You got to call them. This was a legal seizure of an oil tanker. And a lot of what they’re saying is that this is also going to de-incentivize black market ships from stopping in Venezuela and taking this oil to enemy nations. So, this actually might be a good thing sadly wrapped in a Trump packaging which makes it really hard to see that point. BEHAR: So, if they took the oil to enemy nations, what does that mean? HAINES: Well, it was supplying some terrorist regimes for years now. FARAH GRIFFIN: And they’re sanctioned by the U.S. government. It is unlawful. BEHAR: But so, you can just blow up all the ships that are doing it?! FARAH GRIFFIN: It’s not blown up. We seized it. BEHAR: Well, whatever! [Crosstalk] HAINES: This isn’t the drug boats. HOSTIN: Can I just say this, though, on the legal piece of it? FARAH GRIFFIN: Yeah. HOSTIN: It's unclear whether or not this was legal. A federal judge did issue this seizure warrant that you're referring to, roughly about two weeks ago, because of this particular ship's past activity smuggling Iranian oil. And that's typically used to finance terrorist activity. So. I understand that piece. But the piece that I don't understand is that the President of the United States is almost acting as if he’s a pirate and the United States is -- you know, we're just a group of pirates. Because some legal experts will tell you that the U.S. has no jurisdiction to enforce unilateral sanctions on non-U.S. persons outside of its territory. And I'm sort of in that space. Who are we to be able to bomb boats off of the coast of Venezuela? Who are we to board a ship even with U.S. federal judge's seizure warrant and then keep the oil? That to me feels a lot like corruption, it feels a lot like to me – BEHAR: Imperialism. HOSTIN: - imperialism, it feels a lot like me to fascism. And so, while it may be cloaked in an appearance of legality, I still question that. FARAH GRIFFIN: We do sanction terrorist organizations and regimes that are associated with them all over the world and we do seize assets that could support terrorist activities. This is long-standing throughout the Middle East. It’s news because it’s in the western hemisphere. (…) 11:08:23 a.m. Eastern GOLDBERG: We have a lot of nerve doing this. BEHAR: Exactly. GOLDBERG: Because we are running -- we are watching the country get run into the ground and we are in bed with the Russians, with all the people that were -- that I thought we were not supposed to be sanctioning and partying – Not partying with but working with. And so, I'm not sure what we're trying to do anymore because we don't seem to have a clear – a clear thing. (…)

A Hollywood actress lashed out at her critics after she called Charlie Kirk "hateful" in the wake of his assassination during a campus event in Utah in September. Amanda Seyfried accused her critics of misquoting her, even as she doubled down on the criticism against the late conservative activist. 'What I said was pretty damn factual, and I'm free to have an opinion, of course.'Only days after his death, Seyfriend gave a three-word response to a post of some of Kirk's comments: "He was hateful." She was hit with immediate backlash but doubled down in an interview with the "Who What Wear" digital fashion company. "I'm not f**king apologizing for that. I mean, for f**k's sake, I commented on one thing," she said. "I said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes. What I said was pretty damn factual, and I'm free to have an opinion, of course." She also previously offered clarification on Instagram and accused people of taking her words out of context. "We're forgetting the nuance of humanity," she wrote. "I can get angry about misogyny and racist rhetoric and ALSO very much agree that Charlie Kirk's murder was absolutely disturbing and deplorable in every way imaginable," Seyfried added. "No one should have to experience this level of violence. This country is grieving too many senseless and violent deaths and shootings. Can we agree on that at least?" RELATED: ABC extends Jimmy Kimmel contract despite outrage over Charlie Kirk comments Photo by Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images The shocking killing of Kirk at the Utah Valley University campus stunned the nation and led to many on the right and left calling for everyone to ease the rhetoric against their political opponents. Seyfried is best known for her supporting role in the 2004 hit movie "Mean Girls." She has since starred in other movies. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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