Senate Democrats launch investigation of Trump's quid pro quo offer to oil execs

Senate Democrats are investigating Donald Trump's alleged quid pro quo offer to oil executives last month at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) sent letters Thursday morning to top executives for eight oil companies and one trade group seeking more information about the April 11 dinner, where the former president reportedly offered to deliver their favored policies in exchange for $1 billion in campaign donations, reported the New York Times.

“Time and time again, both Mr. Trump and the U.S. oil and gas industry have proved they are willing to sell out Americans to pad their own pockets,” the senators wrote to the excutives.

Trump promised during the dinner to immediately end the Biden administration’s pause on permits for new facilities that export liquefied natural gas, according to two attendees, and criticized the administration's restrictions on drilling on federal lands and in federal waters.

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The Democratic senators accused the executives and Trump of conspiring to "trade campaign cash for policy changes," but a spokeswoman for the American Petroleum Institute denied their accusations.

“This is yet another election-year stunt to distract from America’s need for more energy, including more oil and natural gas, to power our economy and combat persistent inflation," said spokeswoman Andrea Woods.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top-ranked Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, is seeking similar information from company executives, but he does not have the power to issue subpoenas.

The letters sent by Whitehouse and Wyden are typically a first step before subpoenas can be issued, and they would have the authority to issue those as majority party chairmen of the Senate Committee on the Budget and the Senate Committee on Finance.