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MaddowBlog-'Slush fund': Democrats push back against Trump's plan to control Venezuelan oil sales
The president said he’d create a pool of money from Venezuelan oil sales. Democrats said that can’t legally happen.
Legal: Congress has what’s known as “the power of the purse.â€
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-01-08T14:45:48.486Z
Illegal: When Trump says, “I’ve decided to create my own purse.â€
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/slush-fund-democrats-push-back-against-trumps-plan-to-control-venezuelan-oil-sales
Late Tuesday, Donald Trump announced his intention to sell Venezuelan oil to create a massive pool of money that he can distribute at his own discretion. On Wednesday morning, the pushback began in earnest. The New York Times reported:
As constitutional debates go, this one’s easy. The sitting American president announced a plan in which Venezuela would “turn over” roughly $3 billion in oil to the United States. The Republican administration would then sell the foreign country’s resources and, according to Trump’s written statement, the resulting money would be “controlled by” him.
In the U.S., the president can’t create his own pile of money that Congress never approved and then start allocating those funds as he pleases. The Appropriations Clause of the Constitution gives lawmakers what’s known as the power of the purse. When Trump effectively responds, “I’m going to have my own purse,” there’s a problem.....
In other words, the American president is seizing control of a foreign country’s resources, selling those resources and generating a pool of money. Now he’s planning to give the foreign country (of which he claims to be in charge) some undetermined amount of the proceeds, to be spent on American products.
It sounds less like a “deal” and more like a “shakedown.”
President Trump’s declaration that he would personally control the proceeds from oil produced in Venezuela drew instant condemnation on Wednesday from Democrats in Congress who noted that the president had no constitutional authority for such an undertaking.
‘The president cannot grab Venezuela’s oil for his own slush fund. Period,’ Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland and a member of the Appropriations Committee, said on Wednesday.
As constitutional debates go, this one’s easy. The sitting American president announced a plan in which Venezuela would “turn over” roughly $3 billion in oil to the United States. The Republican administration would then sell the foreign country’s resources and, according to Trump’s written statement, the resulting money would be “controlled by” him.
In the U.S., the president can’t create his own pile of money that Congress never approved and then start allocating those funds as he pleases. The Appropriations Clause of the Constitution gives lawmakers what’s known as the power of the purse. When Trump effectively responds, “I’m going to have my own purse,” there’s a problem.....
In other words, the American president is seizing control of a foreign country’s resources, selling those resources and generating a pool of money. Now he’s planning to give the foreign country (of which he claims to be in charge) some undetermined amount of the proceeds, to be spent on American products.
It sounds less like a “deal” and more like a “shakedown.”
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