Letter Advises Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips to “be on notice” that Trump has no authority to compensate them for investments. 

Big Oil execs met with President Trump at the White House this afternoon. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today led his colleagues in urging oil industry giants Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips to proceed with extreme caution as President Trump plots to illegally seize Venezuela’s oil reserves. In their letter, the Senators demand transparency from oil industry executives regarding any communication the companies may have with Executive Branch officials about U.S.-Venezuela policy. The Senators also call on the companies to publicly affirm their intention not to seek or expect U.S. taxpayer dollars to support their activities in Venezuela.  

Senator Welch was joined by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). 

“The United States has no right to attack another country to seize its oil. President Trump has been candid that his objective in Venezuela is for the U.S. to have access to its oil reserves,” wrote the Senators. “In a social media post late Tuesday, President Trump said that ‘Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America,’ a quantity that would be worth between $1.8 billion and $3 billion, according to the New York Times.” 

In recent days, President Trump has revealed his Administration’s intentions to take over Venezuela’s oil assets: “We’re going to be taking out a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground,” said President Trump. “We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars.” The President has also claimed that: “A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.” 

“When President Trump says he will pay the oil companies with revenue seized from Venezuela that he will ‘control,’ be on notice: The President of the United States has no Constitutional authority to appropriate funds to pay oil companies for doing his bidding. Only Congress has the Constitutional authority to appropriate funds. The President cannot obligate federal funds without Congressional approval, including to reimburse or subsidize corporations for private sector projects,” the Senators continued. 

The Senators also emphasized their strong opposition to the United States “‘running Venezuela,’” as suggested by President Trump: “We are opposed to a United States occupation of Venezuela to seize that country’s oil assets. Your company should not expect Congress to finance or reimburse oil sector reconstruction projects, absent explicit advance approval, and Congress will scrutinize and possibly reverse any financing package proposed by the Administration without explicit Congressional approval.” 

Read and download the full letter here. 

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