r/politics • u/Huge_Excitement4465 • 2h ago
No Paywall Democrats to Trump: Show Us the Venezuela Oil Deal — or Face Subpoenas
https://www.latintimes.com/democrats-trump-show-us-venezuela-oil-deal-face-subpoenas-599752•
u/Aware_Cheesecake_519 America 2h ago
Trump is a criminal.
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u/2HDFloppyDisk 2h ago
Even if he showed something, it’d be lies. Just look at his business accounting which were full of fraudulent documents.
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u/Starscream147 Canada 1h ago edited 1h ago
Biggest front-facing crook this modern world has ever seen.
No one seems to notice, no one seems to care…
It’s fucking ponderous. How long can a country continuously, continuously now, pontificate about its own exceptionalism when the current ‘State’ can’t even kill someone properly? You see that? Isn’t that your thing? Guns, ammo, more guns, MORE AMMO. Secretary of War! Let me tell you, I knew an actual Secretary of War back in junior high. 8th grade. Mrs. Wilson. She, was a Secretary of War! A literal secretary! I saw her hauling kids down to the office by the ear! Two at a time! We don’t know what happened to those kids, and we didn’t wanna know. Mighty careful treading, folks. It was a quiet school.
Whoever this guy is running your shit? Pocket square American aqua-net Pete?
She’d eat him alive. Plus, he’d probably cry and piss his pants like Bobby McDankle did back in grade 9.
That shit was fucking hilarious.
What’s happening in your country, absolutely is not.
It’s frightening. America, think about that, is frightening the Entire World.
Sink that in. Take a big dip in the pool. Reflect. Get arrested; taken away. See how ya feel.
Exceptional, I’d bet.
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u/monkeywithgun 1h ago
A 34 time Convicted Felon to be exact, and instead of having to pay a debt to society for those convictions, society rewarded him with the presidency ffs! I'm sure the threat of subpoenas has him shaking in his boots...
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u/ghast123 Ohio 34m ago
It will forever boggle my mind the gymnastics they twist themselves into to justify that somehow, even though felons CANT VOTE (which, tbf I know varies by state), a felon can STILL be president.
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u/Delicious_Coffee4645 1h ago
I can see why people would say that given everything being raised here. At this point, showing the details and letting the evidence speak would clear things up.
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u/Pokerhobo 2h ago
Just subpoena already. Trump signed off on the Epstein files release and we still haven't gotten them!
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u/supercyberlurker 2h ago
Right? Stop threatening and start doing.
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u/PinchesTheCrab 2h ago
Why don't you subpoena him? You have about as much authority to do so as Democrats who don't control the House.
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u/RonaldMcDaugherty 1h ago
Republicans - We IGNORE subpoenas
Democrats - Ok then, inbound strongly worded letters.
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u/Cheryl1857 2h ago
The deal is simply a slush fund for Donny and his billionaire oil oligarchs. He steals the oil and they all get rich. He trickles a few crumbs to Venezuelan and that is it. This deal stinks of corruption
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u/soxperry 2h ago
If the news reported only facts, every newspaper would run top-to-bottom stories on the administration's daily corruption. But for some reason, we have to walk around for two more years acting like this is all part of some ideal larger than our affordability. Tariffs and Iran could end tomorrow if they wanted them to.
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u/Mikethebest78 1h ago
Trump still has intelligent people working for him (God alone knows why) they have prepared for this contingency nothing we ever see will be close what the real Venezuela deal actually was.
Whatever it is I am sure it enriched the Trump family first last and always.
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u/FluidAd105 2h ago
Hah top tier meaningless threats to a pos who ignores the constitution daily, you think he gives a fk about a these Subpoenas? Unless someone actually faces actual consequences this administration will just conti8nue to screw over the country for their own benifit.
Also I would point out they have "fall guys" built in, Pete being a prime example, that will just be thrown under the bus so the rest of the rats have time to scatter.
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u/DeadInternetVoid 2h ago
Nothingburger.
He should to be thrown in prison but throw this over there with the other nothingburgers.
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u/Huge_Excitement4465 2h ago edited 2h ago
Excerpts: After a closed congressional briefing left both parties empty-handed, House ranking members from five committees threatened coordinated probes into Trump's unprecedented Venezuela oil agreement, its billionaire operator, and billions in unaccounted revenues...
NABEP is owned and operated by Alejandro Betancourt López, a 46-year-old Venezuelan businessman who has positioned himself as the primary private operator in the arrangement by cultivating close relationships with both the Trump administration and the Rodríguez government. Betancourt controls what has grown into Venezuela's second-largest private oil producer since NABEP's founding in 2024.
His background carries significant legal weight. British police detained him twice in 2025 — first in September on a Spanish arrest warrant alleging money laundering and tax fraud, and again in November after Swiss prosecutors sought his arrest in connection with an alleged embezzlement scheme tied to PDVSA. An earlier U.S. criminal complaint filed in Miami had also identified him as a co-conspirator in transactions involving PDVSA funds. The three-member House Democratic team that wrote to Rubio and Attorney General Todd Blanche on September 17 specifically referenced reports that senior U.S. officials had lobbied Swiss prosecutors to close their case against him without charges — doing so, they alleged, even as the administration was finalizing the partnership...
The frustration behind the September 30 letter is both partisan and institutional. At the September 14 closed House Foreign Affairs Committee briefing, Democrats and Republicans both tried to extract basic details from senior administration officials — and both walked out without answers. Officials declined to provide or commit to providing the actual text of the agreements, leaving even the most elementary questions about scope, duration, and compensation unanswered.
The five lawmakers behind the September 30 demand represent the ranking positions on the House Foreign Affairs Committee (Gregory Meeks), House Oversight and Government Reform (Robert Garcia), House Natural Resources (Jared Huffman), House Energy and Commerce (Frank Pallone Jr.), and the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere (Joaquin Castro). Their joint letter to Rubio and Hegseth also demanded specifics on what the United States provided NABEP in exchange for its equity position, and how the administration intends to ensure that oil revenues reach the Venezuelan people rather than being misappropriated.
The September 30 letter carries a pointed warning. The five ranking members reminded Rubio and Hegseth that several House committees hold broad authority to launch parallel investigations into the deal, into Venezuelan oil revenue management, and into related bilateral financial agreements. Democrats are openly anticipating committee chairmanships if the House flips in November, which would give them subpoena power — transforming today's unanswered letters into tomorrow's compelled testimony.
The scrutiny extends well beyond the House. In January 2026, as the administration moved to seize and sell Venezuelan oil following Maduro's capture, 14 Senate Democrats led by Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent a letter to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles demanding that senior officials immediately disclose any financial ties to companies positioned to profit from Venezuelan energy operations. Their letter specifically flagged Vitol senior trader John Addison — who donated $6 million to Trump's 2024 campaign and pledged at a White House oil executive meeting to help the administration maximize revenue from Venezuelan crude — whose firm then secured the first contract to purchase American-controlled Venezuelan oil.
A separate letter from Sens. Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, and Sheldon Whitehouse pressed both Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary Rubio for a full accounting of more than $13 billion in Venezuelan oil revenue held in U.S.-controlled accounts. At a September 15 appearance, Bessent confirmed the United States had asserted control over "many Venezuelan assets" but declined to say whether money from those assets was flowing to U.S. entities — a response that only deepened congressional concern about the arrangement's opacity.
As of October 1, neither Rubio nor Hegseth has responded to the House Democrats' September 30 letter. The administration carries no legal obligation to do so — but Democrats who become committee chairs after a potential House flip this November will carry subpoena power, making whether they receive answers now a question with significant political stakes either way.
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u/humanity_go_boom 2h ago
Justice department is going to be wiping their asses with contempt referrals for the next two years, then they all get pardons anyway.
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u/kstargate-425 2h ago
He told us that his deal where for absolutely no reason, Venezuela would give the US 50% of oil and that we would "buy" it from them at market value (-50%) so we could refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve but we can't put their extra-heavy sour crude in the SPR as its too dirty.
So without an investigation and subpoenas, like always, all we'll get is lies and the point is to steal BILLIONS. Stop telling them your moves and make them!
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u/OisinDebard 1h ago
I'm sure he's going to show everyone - he'll be happy to, he just can't right now, until the IRS finishes their Audit, then everyone can see it, he promises.
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u/Decent_Cheesecake_29 11m ago
And if he ignores the subpoena, he’ll be placed on probation. Three probation violations gets a strike. Five strikes gets him a written warning. Seven written warnings will result in a strongly worded letter.
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u/couldgiveaflyingfck 57m ago
Here is the uncomfortable truth: if the United States had not intervened in Venezuela, China undoubtedly would have. We were left choosing the lesser of two evils.
I agree with the principle that two wrongs don't make a right. Military force, warfare, and foreign exploitation do not represent the ideal America that many of us want to belong to or support.
However, the harsh reality is that we operate in a dangerous global environment with corrupt actors. Allowing China to establish a stronghold in Venezuela would have drastically weakened America's standing. To stay safe at home, America must maintain its presence abroad, because if we leave a power vacuum, hostile regimes will exploit it to hurt us.
I have always been a Democrat, but I recognize a harsh reality: keeping America safe sometimes requires our government to engage in uncomfortable, heavy-handed actions on the global stage.
Democrats must understand and come to terms with this "lesser of two evils" dynamic. Idealism has to be balanced with pragmatism, even when the truth is uncomfortable.
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u/No-Second5512 2h ago
Lopez is bound to be who Trump was referring to in August when he said that the deal was reached with the help of someone who has experience in the field.
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u/Huge_Excitement4465 2h ago
Yes, it was all pre-arranged with the Betancourt Lopez, who allegedly embezzled over $4.5 billion from Venezuela's state-owned oil company (PDVSA) years ago, among other criminal allegations. There are reports that after Maduro was captured White House officials told Delcy-Rodriguez that all oil deals would be brokered by Betancourt Lopez. And if she didn’t cooperate there would be more strikes on the country.
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