“We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Trump said during the nearly two-hour meeting. “We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need.”
Asked how long the U.S. administration of the oil industry could last, Trump said longer than a year.
“I would say much longer,” Trump said.
US bombs Venezuela and captures leader Nicolás Maduro
President Trump said the U.S. “carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela” and had “captured” its leader, President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump had announced the administration would “run” Venezuela in coordination with interim authorities there, after the U.S. military captured the country’s former leader, Nicolas Maduro, on Jan. 3 and brought him to New York for trial on charges of narco-terrorism and cocaine trafficking. Maduro has pleaded not guilty and insisted he remains the country’s leader.
Leaders of other countries have offered mixed reaction. China and Russia condemned the removal of Maduro. Latin American leaders rejected the unilateral use of military force against the South American country. And European leaders, who hadn’t recognized his 2024 election as legitimate, said they were assessing what happened.
President Donald Trump looks on as he signs executive orders and proclamations in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, D.C., on May …Show more
Trump’s comments Jan. 7 came the same day as other administration officials began filling in details about how the U.S. administration and oil marketing would work. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed lawmakers about the plans.
“It is not just winging it,” Rubio said of the planned oil sales. “They are not generating any revenue from their oil right now. They cannot move it unless we allow it to move because we has sanctions and we are enforcing those sanctions. This is tremendous leverage. We are exercising it in a positive way.”
Energy Secretary Chris White was meeting Jan. 7 with oil industry officials in Miami. Another meeting is scheduled Jan. 9 at the White House.
“We will rebuild it in a very profitable way,” Trump said. “We’re going to be using oil, and we’re going to be taking oil. We’re getting oil prices down, and we’re going to be giving money to Venezuela, which they desperately need.”
