Donald Trump has made little effort to hide his interest in controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves, especially now that the Republican administration, in the president’s own words, is “in charge” of the South American country.
But late Tuesday afternoon, Trump broke new ground with an announcement published to his social media platform. It read, in its entirety:
I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America. 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! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
According to a New York Times report, 50 million barrels of oil could have a market value of as much as $3 billion.
The list of questions surrounding this policy is not short, and as a Bloomberg News report noted, the White House offered “few details” as to what in the world the president was talking about.
Did officials in Venezuela actually agree to “turn over” these resources to the U.S., or did Trump just make all of this up? For now, we don’t know. When might this happen? For now, we don’t know that, either. If this is happening, is Venezuela getting anything in return for this oil? For now, we don’t know that. By what legal authority is the American president taking control of a foreign country’s natural resources? For now, we don’t know that, either.
But while the public waits for additional details to learn whether Trump’s announcement is real or not, pay particular attention to the nature of the American president’s plan: Trump is prepared to sell a foreign country’s oil to create a massive pool of money that will in turn be “controlled by” him.
That can’t happen.
In the United States, the president can’t create his own pile of money that Congress never approved, and then start allocating the funds at his discretion. The Appropriations Clause of the Constitution gives lawmakers what’s known as the power of the purse. When Trump effectively responds, “I’m going to have my own purse,” there’s a problem. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, what the Republican has sketched out in his vague online statement sounds an awful lot like a slush fund, which would be plainly illegal. This fight is just getting started, and it’s poised to be a doozy. Watch this space.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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