As if Donald Trump weren’t already in enough trouble to last him a lifetime or two, new reporting from the New York Times has confirmed that Senate Democrats have now launched a formal investigation into an alleged quid pro quo offer the former president made to oil executives during a fundraising event at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort and post-White House home last month.
According to the new report, Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) and Ron Wyden (OR) sent letters to the top executives of eight oil companies and one trade group on Thursday morning, requesting information about the April 11th Mar-a-Lago fundraising dinner, during which, Donald Trump is said to have offered the executives deliveries on their favored government policies in exchange for campaign donations to the tune of $1 billion.
In those letters, the senators wrote:
Time and time again, both Mr. Trump and the U.S. oil and gas industry have proved they are willing to sell out Americans to pad their own pockets.”
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Two attendees at the dinner in question claim that Trump promised to immediately axe the Biden administration’s pause on permits for new facilities that export liquefied natural gas and vehemently criticized his predecessor’s restrictions on drilling on federal lands and in federal waters.
The senators accuse Trump of conspiring with the oil executives to “trade campaign cash for policy changes.” However, a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute has already spoken out to categorically deny the allegations.
“This is yet another election-year stunt to distract from America’s need for more energy, including more oil and natural gas, to power our economy and combat persistent inflation,” spokeswoman Andrea Woods said in a statement on the matter.
Similar information from oil company executives is being sought by the top-ranked Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, but he does not possess the power to issue subpoenas that compel the executives to comply with his requests.
The letters sent to execs by Whitehouse and Wyden serve as what is typically the first step in compelling information before subpoenas are issued — something they do have the power and authority to do as majority party chairmen of the Senate Committee on the Budget and the Senate Committee on Finance.
Find the full New York Times report here.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
