Senate Democrats have opened a new front against the Trump administration’s Venezuela oil strategy. Unfortunately for the senators, their argument does not survive contact with its own premise.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, ranking Democrat members Jeanne Shaheen, Jack Reed, Martin Heinrich, and Elizabeth Warren challenge the legality and wisdom of the Pentagon’s plan to take a passive 35 percent stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, Venezuela’s second-largest oil producer. Under the arrangement announced earlier in September, NABEP would control 17 oil blocks believed to hold roughly 65 billion barrels. President Trump has called it the biggest oil deal in world history.
In their letter, the senators claim they want the full text and terms before anything is finalized. They say they have not seen the details, which could actually be true. After all, the Trump administration knows it cannot share details with any Democrat until the timing is right, knowing they can’t trust any member of that party not to immediately forward those details to their favorite propaganda outlet like the New York Times or Politico. So, it’s entirely possible - likely, even - these senators have not seen the full details yet.
