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Watchdog Demands to Know if Trump Admin Colluded With Big Oil in Lead-Up to Venezuela Attack
"When government actions tied to foreign resources are preceded and followed by closed-door meetings with the world’s largest oil companies, transparency is not optional—it is essential."
Jan 07, 2026
A legal watchdog group is demanding information about the extent to which the Trump administration planned its attack on Venezuela last weekend with American oil companies, which are expected to profit royally from the takeover of the South American nation's oil reserves.
The group Democracy Forward filed a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on Monday seeking records and information about the role of US oil companies in the planning of the attack, which killed an estimated 75 people and led to the US military's abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.
President Donald Trump did not inform Congress of the operation, which is required under the War Powers Act of 1973, but he told reporters on Sunday that he'd tipped off oil company executives both "before and after" the strike.
According to reporting by the Wall Street Journal, he informed executives roughly a month before the strike to "get ready" because big changes were coming to the country, which had long held state control over the largest oil reserves in the world.
Since toppling Maduro, in an operation that international law experts have widely described as illegal, Trump has said his goal is to "get the oil flowing" to American oil companies to start "taking a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.”
On Tuesday, Trump said Venezuela's interim leaders—who he's threatened with more attacks if they don't do what he says—have agreed to hand over 30-50 million barrels of oil to be sold by the US, which will control how the profits are dispersed.
Trump and several members of his Cabinet, including Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, are expected to meet with oil executives on Friday at the White House to discuss "security guarantees" for their new spoils.
Democracy Forward has requested information about communications between senior officials at the US departments of Energy and the Interior and executives at top oil companies, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips, prior to the attack. This includes emails, attachments, and calendar invitations exchanged since December 2025.
The group has said it will seek to determine whether these companies were given "privileged access or influence" over the administration's policy toward Venezuela.
“The president couldn’t find time to brief members of Congress before kidnapping a foreign head of state, but appears to have prioritized discussions with Big Oil. When government actions tied to foreign resources are preceded and followed by closed-door meetings with the world’s largest oil companies, transparency is not optional—it is essential,” said Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The public deserves to know what interests are shaping decisions that have enormous consequences for global energy markets and democratic accountability.”
FOIA, which was passed in 1967, allows members of the public to request records from any federal agency. However, agencies have broad discretion to deny FOIA requests, including in cases involving national security or interagency communications.
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'Sick, Malicious Lie': Trump Caught Pushing 'Alternate Reality' Version of Minneapolis ICE Shooting
"The right-wing bullshit machine is operating at full steam and across all cylinders today," said one critic.
Jan 07, 2026
President Donald Trump on Wednesday posted an account of the deadly shooting in Minneapolis by a federal immigration officer that was completely at odds with all evidence seen so far.
In a post on Truth Social, the president claimed that the woman killed in her car by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer "violently, willfully, and viciously ran over" him, forcing him to fire his weapon at her in self-defense.
Trump further claimed that it "is hard to believe" that the ICE officer "is alive" after being supposedly run over.
Eyewitness videos taken at the scene of the incident, however, do not show the officer getting run over at all. In fact, the officer can be seen walking around after discharging his weapon, with no signs of any injury.
In fact, the video Trump posted on his Truth Social that he claims shows the officer being run over does not at all show the officer being run over, but rather stepping safely out of the way as the car starts moving forward.
The New Republic's Greg Sargent carefully examined the video posted by Trump and concluded that it "demonstrates nothing close to what" the president claimed it showed.
"This is a sick, malicious lie from Trump," Sargent commented.
Reporter Sam Stein of the Bulwark also provided a swift debunking of Trump's claims.
"Hard to believe the ICE officer is still alive, writes the president," Stein wrote on X, "of an ICE officer who was not hit at all and was well enough to go run down the street to check on the woman he had killed."
John Hopkins University economist Filipe Campante was struck by just how little effort the president feels he needs to exert to make his lies convincing.
"That he chooses the 'me or your lying eyes?' approach, in the full knowledge that there are multiple videos out there, is a striking commentary on the nature of propaganda in the modern information environment," Campante wrote on Bluesky. "Censorship is no longer viable, so the approach is to use your own content provision to drown out any negative facts/evidence."
Tour guide and author Ben Edwards marveled at the president's ability to make completely fact-free assertions.
"The country is slowly starting to come apart," Edwards observed. "Trump lives in an alternate reality. He cannot speak a word of truth."
Disinformation researcher Kate Starbird warned that Trump's low-effort propaganda was still likely to prove effective with his followers.
"The right-wing bullshit machine is operating at full steam and across all cylinders today," Starbird wrote, "strategically framing the horrific ICE killing of a Minnesota woman to defend/bolster their political aims. For example, Trump's message... will shape how his supporters (willfully mis)interpret the video evidence."
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'This Is an Insane Plan': Democrats Fume After Briefing on Trump Plot to Steal Venezuela's Oil
The Trump administration "is going to be spending just as much time running Venezuela as they are running America," Sen. Chris Murphy said in an address to voters. "That's terrible news for you."
Jan 07, 2026
Democratic lawmakers were stunned as they emerged from a briefing Wednesday with Trump administration officials on the White House's plan for Venezuela following the US invasion last week—a meeting that marked the first time all members of the US Senate and House were briefed on the details of the attack and President Donald Trump's intentions going forward in the South American country.
"We learned a lot, I'm glad we had the briefing," a visibly shaken Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters. "But this is going to be a very rough ride for the United States."
The senators and later members of the House were briefed by officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine.
As Rubio told the press after the meeting, the lawmakers learned about a three-step process the White House is planning, starting with an effort to "stabilize" Venezuela by seizing and selling 30-50 million barrels of oil and then controlling how the proceeds are dispersed.
The US will then ensure “American, Western, and other companies have access to the Venezuelan market in a way that’s fair” before ensuring that the third step is "one of transition," claimed Rubio.
Murphy said the proposal amounts to "stealing the Venezuelan oil at gunpoint for a period of time, undefined, as leverage to micromanage the country."
Murphy: "This is an insane plan. They are talking about stealing the Venezuelan oil at gun point for an undefined period of time as leverage to micromanage the country. The scope and insanity of that plan is absolutely stunning…This is going to be a very rough ride for the U.S." pic.twitter.com/0fQ2KryJTS
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) January 7, 2026
"This is an insane plan," he said after the briefing. "The scope and insanity of that plan is absolutely stunning."
In a video he posted on social media, Murphy spoke directly to US voters about how Trump's plan represents not only "corruption" that will benefit the president's "energy industry and Wall Street friends" and a "failure to learn lessons" from the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also an abandonment of working families across the US.
"This is going to be a multi-billion-dollar effort which is going to take money—your money—but also enormous time," said the senator. "Donald Trump, the White House, everybody there is going to be spending just as much time running Venezuela as they are running America. That's terrible news for you, for the American taxpayer. Because there's huge problems here at home. Healthcare premiums, prices going up, and now the United States government is going to be spending most of its time on many days running the country of Venezuela."
The Senate finally got briefed by the Trump Administration on Venezuela today - and I'm going to share with you what I can.
The bottom line is this - their plan is insane: take Venezuela's oil at gunpoint and use it run the country from DC. America is nation building again. pic.twitter.com/yEqaCTlNtl
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 7, 2026
At a press briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt elaborated on Rubio's comments, saying that the decisions of Venezuela's interim authorities—including Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who assumed power after President Nicolás Maduro was abducted by US forces last week—"are going to be dictated by the United States of America.” She added that it is premature to discuss elections in the country.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) told reporters after the House's classified briefing that "there has to be a timeline for elections,” while Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said, “It’s like they’ll wave a magic wand and things will turn out the way they want.”
Numerous polls have shown that Trump's escalation against Venezuela, which has also included dozens of boat bombings since September that have killed more than 100 people whom the White House claimed were trafficking drugs to the US, is broadly unpopular with Americans. Nearly two-thirds of respondents to a Quinnipiac University survey said last month that they opposed US military operations in Venezuela.
“Across America, people are just saying, what the hell is going on?” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said after the briefing. “We need answers as to how long this is going to last. We need answers to how many troops, how much money, are there guardrails, things we don’t do, and a number of things that we had talked about were very troubling.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was among the lawmakers who said the White House briefing made clear that Congress must hold public hearings on the Trump administration's operations in Venezuela, adding that oil companies—who Trump openly said on Sunday were informed of the military strike and capture of Maduro before they happened—"seem to know more about Trump's secret plan to 'run' Venezuela than the American people."
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) added that the US is "four months into a sustained military operation" and has killed more than 200 so-called "enemies."
"American troops have been injured," he said. "We have the US forces arranged around Venezuela. Yet neither the House nor the Senate have been willing to hold a single public hearing."
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