American forces seize an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, the Senate shoots down competing bills on the future of health care, and a prominent college football coach is fired—then arrested.
It’s Friday, December 12, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251212-member-exclusive">video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuela Coast</h2>
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Topline: The United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday in an escalation of President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Bloomberg was the first to report that a tanker had been seized earlier Wednesday, and President Trump confirmed the news later in the day at a roundtable with business leaders.
“An interesting day from the standpoint of news. As you probably know, we’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large–largest one ever seized, actually,” <a href="https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1998847332616421875">said</a> Trump.
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Some administration officials posted a video of the operation that showed American forces dropping onto the tanker and taking control of it. Attorney General Pam Bondi explained that the United States “executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.” She added that the oil tanker had been sanctioned because of “its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”
Maduro’s response: The Venezuelan government condemned the seizure in a statement that said Venezuela “strongly denounces and repudiates what constitutes blatant theft and an act of international piracy.”
This development has to be concerning to Maduro. Venezuela is a petrostate, with petroleum accounting for nearly the entire economy. The money the Maduro regime receives from oil sales is the key to its stability. Because the United States has sanctions on Venezuelan oil, Maduro has been forced to do business with regimes that typically are opposed to American interests, such as China. And then at deep discounts to offset the risk of violating American sanctions. If Venezuela is no longer able to sell its oil, that’s a huge blow to Maduro’s revenue.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">The Battle Over Obamacare Continues</h2>
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Topline: The battle over Obamacare is in full swing, with Democrats advocating for extended subsidies and Republicans offering alternative healthcare options.
Two votes took place in the Senate on Thursday regarding the looming Obamacare deadline. Neither of the bills passed, but it’s important to break down what Democrats and Republicans are pushing forward, because this deadline is coming up in a matter of weeks.
The Democrat bill: The Democrat-backed bill, called the “Lower Health Care Costs Act,” would extend Obamacare subsidies, which are technically tax credits, for another three years. These started back in 2021 and were only supposed to be in place for two years, but Democrats extended them until December 31.
The plan is pricey; it’s expected to cost taxpayers about $83 billion. But Democrats argue that the extension is necessary, otherwise more than 20 million Americans will see their healthcare costs more than double, on average. Republicans dispute that.
“Twenty-two million of the 24 million people will still get their subsidies, the original Obamacare subsidies, which subsidize the insurance at 91% of the premiums. So, their premiums won’t double,” GOP Sen. Ron Johnson told Morning Wire last month. “Going from zero to a negligible amount is an infinite increase. You can’t put that as ‘doubling premiums.’ The people we’re talking about, the 1.6 million people whose subsidies completely go away—I’m willing to work with Democrats on that.”
Republicans also argue that Obamacare, and specifically these subsidies, are creating massive fraud–another burden on the American taxpayer.
The GOP bill: The GOP-backed bill, called the “Health Care Freedom for Patients Act of 2025,” does let the Obamacare subsidies expire on the timeline Democrats set. But it also offers Americans direct payments to help cover healthcare costs. This was an idea floated by President Trump last month.
The health savings accounts created by the bill would be available to Americans earning up to 700% of the federal poverty limit, and the funds would range from $1,000 to $1,500 for 2026 and 2027. The accounts would restrict use for abortion and certain gender-transition coverage.
Republicans needed 60 votes, which would have to include a handful of Democrats, but that didn’t happen.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Michigan Head Coach Arrested</h2>
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Topline: The University of Michigan finds itself engulfed in controversy after administrators abruptly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/michigan-fires-football-coach-sherrone-moore-621eb019?mod=hp_lead_pos9">fired</a> head football coach Sherrone Moore with cause. Now, he’s in custody on suspicion of assault. Morning Wire spoke to former Michigan quarterback and Daily Wire Crain &amp; Company co-host David Cone about the Moore saga. (This interview has been lightly edited.)
Morning Wire: I&#8217;ve been, honestly, kind of shocked by this story. We looked at it initially and thought, oh, this will be an Evening Wire. And then it turned into a full-blown story that we felt like was worth covering here. What exactly is happening in this case?
Cone: A sad day for Michigan football. A sad day for this country. I just want to say that first and again, I&#8217;m praying for this man because there&#8217;s some very serious allegations here. I&#8217;ll just say to you now that I heard as far back as September, following Michigan&#8217;s loss to Oklahoma, I had a very reliable source closely associated with Michigan football call me and just say it&#8217;s widely known that Sherrone Moore has engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a staff member, and that conduct likely resulted in a pregnancy that was terminated. I heard this in September. I did some due diligence, but every time I would hear something that corroborated that, I would hear something else that says, that&#8217;s just rumor. Come to find out, throughout the fall, many other people and former players close to the program have been hearing something very similar. Wednesday, Warde Manuel, the athletic director, decided to fire head coach Sherrone Moore. … The reports out of Ann Arbor are that Sherrone Moore did not take that news very well, and that allegedly threatened to take his own life. I don&#8217;t know if this was directly with his wife or with the staff member. There is a question here, possibly threatening to even take her life, and he was arrested. I do want to go to as reliable of a source as it gets with the University of Michigan. This is John Bacon, and this is directly from <a href="https://x.com/Johnubacon/status/1998978431154008380">him</a>: “The UM employee presented irrefutable documentation about Moore&#8217;s conduct to UM leaders this morning (Wednesday). The president and regents had seen enough, and Manuel fired him (Wednesday) afternoon. Moore is now detained in protective custody in a mental health institution.”
Morning Wire: One of the big questions here is who knew what when. You say you have the source, it&#8217;s pretty shocking you heard this all the way back in September. Do you feel that this is a cover-up situation by the administration? And that&#8217;s a major allegation to make, but is that possibly the case?
Cone: That is a critical question that you&#8217;re asking, particularly since we are a week now removed from National Signing Day. You have national recruits here who, in good faith, signed their name to a national letter of intent because they thought Sherrone Moore was going to be the head football coach–how does that impact their decision? I lived through this as a recruit at this very place. This was my alma mater. But again, this is way bigger than football. We&#8217;re talking about someone&#8217;s life or family at stake here. So again, I can&#8217;t answer what board members will do when I just know that if I&#8217;m hearing about something in September, the athletic director certainly must have heard about this sooner. At the same time, how does he separate rumors that he must hear on a daily basis versus something that is credible and he must investigate?

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Morning Brief: Oil Tanker Tango, Obamacare Subsidy Standoff, & Major College Football Coach Arrested

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Morning Brief: Oil Tanker Tango, Obamacare Subsidy Standoff, & Major College Football Coach Arrested