This has been known for quite a long time, but the goal is to make the US poor. By making the US buy offshore oil, it pushed US dollars into the world market which does not fully come back to the US economy. If the US is oil independent, it keeps US dollars in the US, slowing the financial destruction of the US. Repeated in many industries that we were once “independent” in.
This just political theater, like democrats they claim a position and then talk like the opposition has is in the minority. Also right before the military action so they can play the sympathy card. Read the script, read the lines. Rinse repeat.
This wasn't his initial brush with the law. Allegedly, he has been associated with anarchist circles for a considerable period and was previously apprehended during the tumultuous G8 protests in San Francisco back in 2005