NEWS -- Sen Sheldon Whitehouse tells me Dems are likely to investigate revelations about Trump soliciting $1 billion [View all]

[riversedge]

Glad to see Whitehouse onto this.





NEWS --> Sen Sheldon Whitehouse tells me Dems are likely to investigate revelations about Trump soliciting $1 billion from Big Oil execs while corruptly vowing to fulfill their biggest policy demands.

This would be via the Budget Committee. 1/

Link to tweet

“The phrase that instantly came to mind as I was reading the story was ‘quid pro quo,’” Sen Sheldon Whitehouse tells me about WaPo report on Trump's $1 billion Big Oil shakedown.

This would be extension of Budget Committee hearings into oil industry. 2/

https://newrepublic.com/article/181493

Link to tweet

..................“This is practically an invitation to ask more questions,” Whitehouse told me, describing this as a “natural extension of the investigation already underway.”

There’s plenty to explore. As the Post reports, an oil company executive at the gathering, held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort last month, complained about environmental regulations under the Biden administration. Then this happened:

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

Obviously industries have long donated to politicians in both parties in hopes of governance that takes their interests into account, and they explicitly lobby for this as well. But in this case, Trump may have made detailed, concrete promises while simultaneously soliciting a precise amount in campaign contributions. .........................................


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