Story thread · 18 reports / 15 sources

Trump official trips over own message on contradictory media tour

rawstory.com · 8dShare

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Sunday denied that the Trump administration was stealing Venezuela’s oil just one hour after boasting that the country is being “forced to work” with the United States . During a Sunday morning interview on ABC News, Wright was asked why he trusted interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez, given that she was previously the vice president of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was abducted by the American military earlier this year and brought to the US to face narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons charges. “We have a lot of leverage over Venezuela ,” Wright explained. “We control the sale of oil outside of their country. So right now, they are forced to work in partnership with us, and they are working in partnership with us.” Shortly after, during an interview on Fox News, Wright grew indignant at the suggestion that the US was forcing Venezuela to give up its oil through threats of military force and other coercive measures. “This

First report: Alejandro Betancourt, Trump’s Partner in Venezuelan Oil Deal, Has Faced Investigations — nytimes.com, 11d