House Democrats on the Oversight Committee are investigating allegations former President Donald Trump sought help from oil executives to get $1 billion in campaign cash.
Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) blasted out letters Monday to nine top oil companies in the US demanding details about the supposed dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on April 11.
“I write to request any information you may have about quid pro quo financial agreements related to US energy policy that were reportedly proposed at a recent campaign fundraising dinner with ex-President Donald Trump,” Raskin wrote.
Raskin cited a report from the Washington Post last week that claimed Trump, 77, suggested they should help raise $1 billion to help him retake the White House due to the regulatory and tax relief they’d enjoy under his reign.
About two dozen oil executives attended the dinner, per the report.
Trump’s first administration rolled back over 125 environmental rules and he has vowed to follow suit in a second term while promoting energy production.
“Media reports raise significant potential ethical, campaign finance, and legal issues that would flow from the effective sale of American energy and regulatory policy to commercial interests in return for large campaign contributions,” Raskin added.
He penned letters to the heads of Chevron, ExxonMobil, Continental Resources, Chesapeake Energy, Occidental Petroleum, Venture Global LNG, Cheniere Energy, EQT Corporation and the American Petroleum Institute.
Raskin is demanding answers by May 27.
At the dinner, Trump reportedly offered to green light more leases for drilling at the Gulf of Mexico and reverse President Biden’s pause on permits for new liquefied natural gas exports.
The Maryland Democrat blasted the dinner banter as an “unvarnished quid pro quo offer,” despite other media reports suggesting it wasn’t quite a tit-for-tat exchange.
Raskin further highlighted reports that the “oil industry is drawing up ready-to-sign executive orders” and claimed that the oil execs may have already accepted Trump’s “explicit corrupt bargain.”
Given that he sits in the minority on the powerful Oversight Committee, Raskin’s powers are limited, but he can request information and has staff to help conduct investigations.
All of this comes as Republicans have leveraged the Oversight panel to scrutinize allegations of the Biden family engaging in influence peddling overseas — something the president has rejected.
This isn’t the first time Trump has faced accusations of a “quid pro quo.”
Back in late 2019, Trump faced his first impeachment over an alleged quid pro quo in which his administration froze a $400 million military aid package to Ukraine while he supposedly sought to extract dirt on Hunter Biden from Kyiv.
Ultimately, Trump was acquitted in a Senate trial in early 2020.
The Post contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
