Bannon`s War Room
Episode 5050: Taking Down Organized Crime In Venezuela; Making America Healthy Again
07 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What recent actions has the U.S. taken against Venezuelan organized crime?
Sources just confirmed to CNN that the United States has seized an oil tanker that had been linked to Venezuela. Now Russia is responding to this seizure saying they are the owners. of this vessel. The Trump administration has not acknowledged the Russian status, claiming the ship to be stateless. But nevertheless, you can see the sensitive nature of the situation.
Russia had sent ships to track and maybe even protect this vessel over the last 24 hours. The United States has been tracking it across the Atlantic. It's the same ship that the Coast Guard had tried to seize last month near Venezuela. They were unable to board it, and the ship changed course and fled. But now the breaking news, the United States has seized it.
Chapter 2: How is Russia responding to the seizure of the oil tanker?
This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies, because we're going medieval on these people. I got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people, the people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen.
And where do people like that go to share the big line? Mega media.
I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?
If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved. War Room. Here's your host, Stephen K. Bann.
It's Wednesday, 7 January, Year of Allure 2026. This next hour is going to be packed. We're going to fit it all in. I want to go back to Todd Wood. So it's called the escalatory ladder. Todd, you're very familiar with that. Pete Hegseth, our great secretary of war that oversaw once again, another precision military operation of incredible complexity.
Now we are going to have a writer from the Daily Telegraph on at five o'clock. that's broken a story that has people's head exploding about meetings that took place in Qatar with the vice president down there in Venezuela. And she might've been kind of, how can I say this? Maybe on the Trump team beforehand, he's gonna walk through reporting he has that backs up that thesis.
He put the story out and it's blowing up. Todd, but Pete Hegseth who oversaw that, we had a quarantine and Rubio said, he says, look, The way we're going to do this is use our naval forces. We have, as President Trump says, a vast armada off the coast of Venezuela. We've had it there for a while. It's a carrier strike group. We've also got an amphib-ready group.
I think there's 12,000 to 14,000 fleet marines and sailors off there. We're going to use that smartly with the quarantine to leverage their oil policy and other things. And yesterday we redirected $2 billion, I think 50 million barrels of oil to the United States of America and away from the Chinese Communist Party. Today, HEXA says it's a blockade.
And in naval terms, as you know, that's an escalatory. That's bigger than a quarantine. At the same time, on the high seas, Special operators, JSOC seized a, uh, essentially a Russian vessel.
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Chapter 3: What military strategies are being discussed for Venezuela?
Is this an act of war against Putin and Russia? Is President Trump putting it on notice? We're not going to play any games here, sir? Steve, well, the op has been practiced a lot. I mean, this is done in JSOC via exercise all the time. So well rehearsed, nothing new there. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary with them boarding the ship via helleborn assault.
And as I said, likely they were on board or close to it well before those helicopters got there. As far as what's going on geopolitically, I see this in a bigger picture. It's obviously hemispheric defense. I mean, we're taking, it's the Monroe Doctrine, the Donrow Doctrine, whatever you want to call it. But if you look at it from a bigger perspective, it may be a way to peace in Ukraine, right?
If we can get Russia at least out of Venezuela and other areas in our hemisphere, then maybe there's a deal to be made in Ukraine for peace. Europe doesn't want that. And I see this as the big struggle is to get that war ended. And we obviously are protecting our hemisphere. So maybe there's a deal. Okay, you know what?
You're going to get what you want in Ukraine, but we want you out of these areas. Okay, but hang on. I see what you're saying. Hang on. I see what you're saying, the sector, but spheres of influence. But just yesterday, and I've got a whole team coming on at five because we're going to address this. We've got to make some time to do this. In Paris yesterday,
And I think Witkoff and Jared are over there dealing with having meetings with the Syrians and the Israelis to get that thing settled down. Zelensky shows up. They got a sidebar meeting. And now I hear not just about American security guarantees, and the Germans were not there for the signing, but the French and the British have essentially signed an agreement with Zelensky.
Now, the Germans are not party to this. The Americans are not party to this, although they're leaking all kind of information that we will be party to it. To set up actual...
military hubs, I guess it's called, of troops, not a written security guarantee, not a contract, but near the line of contact with wherever the ceasefire is and wherever the Russian army is and wherever they agree, maybe they back up an inch, maybe they stay where they are, but wherever that line of contact, these military hubs will be up there with troops, with troops of France who can't afford it and the British who can't afford it, but this is what you're doing.
How can you say you can see any... peace deal coming out of this because the russians are not going to agree they're not going to sit there and agree to have nato troops including it looks like this thing is predicated upon the americans coming in they're never going to agree to that are they
no and they better not i mean we don't want to be in that war i've been screaming it for 12 years i don't think putin will allow that as you said and as i just mentioned it's europe that is standing in the way of peace here there's a deal to be made europe doesn't want peace and as you said the the french and the british don't have the capability to put anything in there and sustain it the russians know that the russians will keep going until they get what they want
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Chapter 4: What geopolitical implications arise from U.S. actions in Venezuela?
We're actually going to make a deal with them. It's an indigenous population. The Danes have never put any money in there. The people have no economic opportunity. We're going to make a deal. We're going to offer to buy it. We're going to offer to buy it from them and heck with the Danes. And so now they're completely meltdown on that. And McFaul saying, I don't know any strategic reason.
There's a huge strategic reason for Greenland. It makes total sense when you think a hemispheric defense from the Arctic down to the Gulf of America and the Caribbean. We got to clean out the CCP Lake down there. You talk about the Panama Canal control that then all the way down to Latin America where President Trump's cleaning up. a place that needs cleaning up, particularly Venezuela.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you think the Russians are going to sit there and agree to get all their troops and all their support at Maduro? Because Russia, in this regard, looks a little bit like a paper tiger. And China, the CCP, this is a huge loss of face.
That's where they had their, I think the woman who's the interior ministry, she came out today and lit us up and almost said it's an act of war, what we're doing and taking their oil, sir. Yeah, Russia doesn't have the capability to fight us in this region, just like in Syria when they backed away. They're tied up in Ukraine. They have to focus on that.
What is going down, in my opinion, is the takedown of a large, organized, massive organized crime cartel, if you want to say it. It's not just drug cartels. And it's in Europe, it's in Ukraine, and it's in Venezuela. And you're seeing both of those taken down. And that is, I've called it many times before, the organized crime safe house in Ukraine. They can do anything they want.
Same in Venezuela when they were launching unrestricted warfare into the U.S. So what I see, that's the overall picture I see. Putin is not a threat to Western Europe. He can't even take Donbass at this point. Yes, their military is much stronger than before the war. Their stores of weapons are producing 10 to 1 what NATO produces.
Maybe in 20 years they could approach going into the Baltics or something, but they're not a threat Right now, conventionally, they are nuclear wise, but they are not a conventional threat. And they're definitely not a conventional threat in our hemisphere. I think Putin realizes that. And there's a deal to be made.
I'm going to keep saying that, you know, I want to see that bridge between Russia and Alaska and lots of commerce going on there and an explosion of wealth in North America. That's what I think Trump sees. Todd, there's a Tel Aviv event. They're all getting worked up now. They want American interdiction with the Israelis, IDF, Mossad, into the situation in Persia.
I'm saying, hey, the Persian people look right, and the mullahs are firing on them. They're showing they have no regard to the people out there because the economy is in total collapse, as I said it was going to be if you just enforce the sanctions. Now, the biggest one is not being enforced.
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Chapter 5: How does the Trump administration plan to improve American health?
CDM.press, put us in your scan daily. We would really appreciate it. Sign up for our social media. We got deplatformed, lost half a million followers. We're trying to rebuild. So that would be very helpful. Thank you. CDM underscore press. We all got deplatformed. Good way to build it back. Having great news. Thank you, Todd. Appreciate you. Take care. So we got Comer's Oversight Committee.
We've got, there's a presser starting here momentarily with Caroline Leavitt in the press briefing room and Bobby Kennedy and Brooke Rollins are gonna be there. So we have the agriculture, And Bobby Kennedy, that's Make America Healthy Again, using both the food and the pharmaceutical, right? Bobby Kennedy's doing such a great job there. Big announcement the other day on vaccines.
Brooke Rollins, associate announcer today. We're going to cut to that. We've also got a lot more, so much intent. We're going to get it all done. And 5 o'clock, we're going to take a broader view and drill down about exactly what is going on
in all in particularly in nato in europe russia the complete meltdown as president trump tries to basically build the construct of hemispheric defense he's he's he's been very upfront he studied closely the debacle of iraq and he is sworn to not allow those things to happen again and i think if you look at what's happening it's very smart particularly the CCP on their back foot right now.
Huge loss of face. Two billion dollars of oil to them redirected to the United States of America by the United States Navy. In fact, Captain Fenella will join us tonight to talk about quarantines, blockades, all of it. What does it mean? Short commercial break. We're going to return in the war room in just a moment.
American, babe. In America's
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Chapter 6: What are the new dietary guidelines introduced by the Trump administration?
You know, the understanding of geopolitics, national security, intelligence just doesn't make you a more informed citizen, help you understand the world more. And we don't do this so that you're the smartest person at the Little League game sitting in the stands or you're the smartest person at the backyard barbecue.
It's to make you a more effective member and have more agency in the MAGA movement. But it also can roll into your business. personal and your financial life. If you understand this is one of the reasons we have Jim Rickards as one of our contributors, a great contributor. Rickardswarroom.com. He's got this newsletter called Strategic Intelligence.
It's based upon what he calls predictive analytics. It's one of the reasons that Rickards is kind of revered among people, particularly in capital markets, that he has a real understanding because he's worked in this space for, I don't know, 50 years. Predictive analytics. And this is why strategic intelligence kind of has a
It's got such a renowned following, right, of chairman of the boards, CEOs, what I call the C-suite, decision makers and companies all over the world and countries all over the world. You get access to it. Rickardswarroom.com. Go there now. You get access to strategic intelligence.
And he throws in a book, Money GPT, so you can start to understand the interaction between artificial intelligence and fiat currency. Check it out today. Rickardswarroom.com. It's a landing page. Go there. Check it out. Strategic intelligence. So, Trevor Comstock, momentarily, we're going to go to, I think, hopefully, a briefing in the White House briefing room. Caroline Leavitt has announced it.
Bobby Kennedy is going to be there and Brooke Rollins, which means it's a combination of what is really Make America Healthy Again, the agricultural part and the food part.
and the uh and and the medical part the pharmaceutical part which bobby's been so good of kind of redirecting it's the whole reason you started sacred human health these kind of handcrafted products that you guys have done that have all the natural ingredients and quite frankly have we just gotten such great feedback from the audience what do you got for us today
Yeah, thanks for having me, Steve. Good to see you. A couple of things I want to mention. Number one, we are still running our new year sale all the way through today. So just make sure to use code 2026 at checkout for 15% off any one-time order. Again, that will be good through today.
And then also I'm super excited to announce that we just launched our newest product, which is our Sacred Healing Salve. It's already been selling super fast, so I'm hoping that we don't have to list it as out of stock soon. But either way. We're making sure that we keep up with inventory. And just a little background on it. It is handmade in small batches with organic ingredients.
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Chapter 7: How will these dietary guidelines impact federal food programs?
According to the CEA, poor diet is the root cause of obesity, which accounts for $400 billion in medical spending each year. A healthier America will lead to a more affordable America.
The new dietary guidelines from the Trump administration will ensure federal dollars go to real food to improve public health and therefore save the American people their hard-earned cash over the course of their lives. So with that, I am going to hand it over to Secretary Kennedy.
The great people behind me will give remarks, and then we'll get into Q&A for the officials that are here on this specific topic. They will leave because they're all very busy people, and then I will open it up to Q&A with the rest of you on the rest of the news in the world. So thank you, and we'll start with Secretary Kennedy. Thank you.
Today marks a decisive change in federal nutrition policy, made possible by President Trump's leadership and the work of maha moms and public health advocates who demanded reform. Today, in accordance with President Trump's directive, Brooke and I will release the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025 to 2030, the most significant reset of federal nutrition policy in history.
These guidelines replace corporate-driven assumptions with common sense goals and gold standard scientific integrity. These new guidelines will revolutionize our nation's food culture and make America healthy again. For decades, Americans have grown sicker while health care costs have soared. The reason is clear. The hard truth is that our government has been lying to us
to protect corporate profit-taking, telling us that these food-like substances were beneficial to public health. Federal policy promoted and subsidized highly processed foods and refined carbohydrates and turned a blind eye to the disastrous consequences. Today, the lies stop.
The new guidelines recognize that whole nutrient-dense food is the most effective path to better health and lower healthcare costs. Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines. We are ending the war on saturated fats. Diets rich in vegetables and fruits reduce disease, risk more effectively than many drugs.
All grains outperform refined carbohydrates. Added sugars, especially sugar-sweetened beverages, drive metabolic disease, and today our government declares war on added sugar. Highly processed foods loaded with additives, added sugar, and excess salt damage health and should be avoided. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, my message is clear. Eat real food.
Nothing matters more for health care outcomes, economic productivity, military readiness, and fiscal stability. Dietary guidelines shape dozens of federal feeding programs, including Head Start. Lean standards affect 45 million school lunches every day. Meals for 1.3 million active duty service members and food served to 9 million veterans in VA hospitals.
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Chapter 8: What are the expected outcomes of the new health initiatives?
Thankfully, the solution is simple and should be non-controversial. Eat real food. This is the main message of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025 to 2030, which encourage households and schools to prioritize whole, nutrient-dense foods.
That means more protein, more dairy, more healthy fats, more whole grains, more fruits and vegetables, whether they are fresh, frozen, canned, or dried. We are finally putting real food back at the center of the American diet. Real food that nourishes the body, restores health, fuels energy, and builds strength.
This pivot also leans into the abundant, affordable, and healthy food supply already available from America's incredible farmers and ranchers. By making milk, raising cattle, and growing wholesome fruits, vegetables, and grains, they hold the key to solving our national health crisis.
And President Trump is mobilizing government to ensure families across America have greater access to these healthy foods. In the past 12 months, inflation has slowed and wages have risen for the first time in five years. Under President Trump's leadership, prices for everyday staples are declining and more help is on the way.
Recent data show that fruits, vegetables, dairy, and proteins, including eggs, pork, and ground beef, are becoming even more affordable every day for our American people. American households enjoy the most affordable and abundant food in the world, and today's release only reinforces that reality. A healthy meal is within reach for all American families.
These new dietary guidelines are a framework which is meant to be customized to meet the needs, the preferences, and the financial status of all American families. For example, a meal including such items as pork or eggs or whole milk or cheese, tomatoes, other fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, whole grain bread, corn tortilla can cost today right around $3 for that meal. $3.
And soon, USDA will finalize our stocking standards, which means that those businesses in America that take the SNAP benefit, what they are required to stock in order to take that benefit, by the way, that's almost 250,000 retailers across America, that very soon we will be finalizing that rule that will mandate all 250,000 retailers in America
double the type of staple foods that they provide for America's SNAP households. This means healthier options will be in reach for all American families, regardless of circumstance, at levels never seen before in our country.
These dietary guidelines are foundational to so many USDA programs, and their introduction marks the first step in connecting America's schools and dinner plates to the best of American agriculture. Make no mistake, under President Trump's leadership, we are restoring common sense, we are restoring scientific integrity, and we are restoring accountability to federal food and health policy.
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