Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) criticized President Trump on Tuesday over his administration’s handling of Venezuela’s oil after ousting Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, highlighting the funds it will receive from selling that oil.
Massie, a fiscal hawk who has been known to break with GOP leaders on issues related to spending, described oil acquired from Venezuela as “stolen” in a post on the social platform X and argued the administration was circumventing Congress’s power of the purse.
“Selling stolen oil and putting billions of dollars in a bank in Qatar to be spent without Congressional approval is not Constitutional,” the lawmaker wrote. ”Only Congress can appropriate money.”
“The President can’t legally create a second Treasury overseas for his own piggy bank,” he added. “Wake up Congress.”
Trump announced earlier this month that Venezuela would turn over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to be sold by the U.S.
“This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.
His administration announced last week that it completed its first sale of the oil. Semafor reported the $500 million revenue from the sale was being held in bank accounts, including one in Qatar, that are controlled by the U.S. government.
It could be just the start of such sales, as the Energy Department has indicated the U.S. will sell Venezuelan oil “indefinitely.” The department also said it was working with “the world’s leading commodity marketers and key banks to execute and provide financial support for these crude oil and crude products sales.”
The White House hit back at Massie in a statement to The Hill.
“President Trump captured the narcoterrorist leader of Venezuela who poisoned the American people with deadly drugs and sent thousands of vicious illegal aliens into our country,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in the emailed statement. “Thomas Massie crying about that is just one more reason why the great people of Kentucky have completely lost faith in him.”
