Billionaire pushes oil barons to fund Trump campaign in return for wishlist deal: WaPo

A billionaire energy tycoon is driving the push for Big Oil executives to fund former President Donald Trump's campaign, expecting a windfall in more favorable regulation in return, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Harold Hamm, the 78-year-old founder of Continental Holdings, "has emerged as a central figure in cajoling the oil industry to finance Trump’s reelection bid, and in communicating to the ex-president what the oil industry wants to improve its fortunes in a second Trump term," according to the report.

He has told fellow oil executives, “We’ve got to do this because it’s the most important election in our lifetime."

Trump in turn has scheduled events with these figures, some of whom are opening their pocketbooks for the first time. Even the executives themselves were reportedly shocked by how transactional Trump was willing to be for their support, according to the report.

Altogether, industry officials have contributed $20.3 million so far in this cycle to Trump's campaign and affiliated PACs.

“We’ve gotten max-out checks from people we’ve never gotten a dollar from before,” one Trump campaign aide said.

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According to the report, although the United States is at an all-time high for oil production — even more than was produced under Trump's administration — Hamm fears that a Kamala Harris presidency could reverse this.

"As attorney general in California, Harris prosecuted oil companies for leaks from pipelines and storage tanks, and even sued the Obama administration for allowing fracking off California’s Pacific coast — reasons that Hamm and other fossil fuel executives worry about what the next four years could look like," the report stated.

Meanwhile, according to the Post, Hamm has communicated to Trump he wants new oil leases on currently protected federal lands, a relaxation of the Endangered Species Act, and the repeal of several EPA rules, the report stated.