Trump Discusses Venezuela’s Oil Following Maduro’s Detention
During an appearance on MS NOW with host Joe Scarborough, President Donald Trump stated that the United States plans to “keep the oil” after the recent military operation in Venezuela, which led to the detention of President Nicolas Maduro.
Scarborough shared that he had spoken with Trump multiple times since his return to the White House, and just yesterday, after a few months of no contact, he reached out to discuss the situation. They talked about the military operation that captured Maduro and Scarborough pressed Trump on how this situation compared to the U.S. invasion of Iraq under President George W. Bush.
When Scarborough brought up the controversial U.S. occupation of Iraq, he found Trump’s response strikingly different. Trump explained, “Joe, the difference between Iraq and this time is that Bush didn’t keep the oil. We’re going to keep the oil,” according to Scarborough’s recounting of the conversation.
Trump contextualized his earlier comments from 2016, saying, “In 2016 I said we should have kept the oil. That caused a lot of controversy. Well, we should have kept the oil.”
Scarborough added that they plan to “rebuild our broken oil facilities and keep the oil on this time,” which suggests a significantly aggressive approach. He remarked that calling this a new “era of geopolitical engagement” might even be an understatement.
In the wake of Maduro’s capture, Trump indicated that the U.S. would “manage” Venezuela until there is what he termed a safe and sensible transition of power. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, now face serious federal charges, including accusations of narco-terrorism.
Despite their legal troubles, Maduro and Flores have claimed their innocence. Venezuela, noted for its vast oil reserves—over 300 billion barrels—was once a major oil producer, although production has dramatically declined from approximately 3.5 million barrels per day in the late 1990s to around 800,000 barrels today.
Trump expressed intentions to revitalize Venezuela’s oil industry by attracting investment from major American energy companies.
