Marco Rubio buried an investigation he later claimed never happened: report

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly helped shut down a federal investigation into a businessman involved in President Donald Trump’s massive Venezuelan oil deal —then publicly said there was no investigation against him.

Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt had spent years under investigation by the Justice Department as part of a sprawling billion-dollar money laundering case, according to a new CNN report. But prosecutors in Miami recently closed the probe after receiving direct orders from then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

“The move came as part of an effort by Trump White House officials and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to enlist Betancourt to engineer a massive new oil deal with Venezuela’s government,” the report said.

Rubio, in an interview this week with a Venezuelan broadcaster, took credit for helping arrange Betancourt’s role in the oil deal and went on to defend the businessman as having been fully vetted.

“We thoroughly investigate what we know within our system,” Rubio said. “Obviously, if these individuals were under investigation in the United States, and we have checked that with all the authorities, there was no investigation within our system against him.”

But, according to CNN, Rubio did not disclose that he “played a key role in why Betancourt is no longer under investigation.”

The Justice Department disputed that Blanche personally directed prosecutors to shut the case, calling the claim “a complete fabrication,” the Friday report said. Betancourt, who is now a partner in Trump’s Venezuelan oil plan, was never charged with a crime.

“Now we have an opportunity to do something that I believe is going to benefit everyone,” Rubio said in the interview. “But specifically, in the long term, benefit the Venezuelan people.”