Donald Trump's "big beautiful" budget bill almost fell apart this past week because two of Donald Trump's closest advisers couldn't get on the same page which infuriated three GOP lawmakers who threatened a revolt.
According to a report from the Washington Post, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special mission envoy Rick Grenell have been "butting heads" with each other behind the scenes since their appointments and it grew to a head this week when Grenell announced a policy change which Rubio quickly overruled.
At issue are sanctions aimed at Venezuela that would allow Chevron to continue to produce and export Venezuelan oil which Grenell personally negotiated with the leadership in Caracas as part of the release of U.S. military veteran detainee Joe St. Clair.
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According to the report, Trump okayed the deal but Rubio was left out of the loop which set in motion a "head-spinning chain of events" where GOP Reps. Carlos A. Gimenez, Mario Diaz-Balart and María Elvira Salazar threatened to withdraw their support for the budget bill while racing to the secretary of state to intercede –– which he did in a quick reversal before the vote came up.
The Post notes, "Although clashes between Rubio and Grenell broke out into the open this week, the two men have butted heads since the beginning of the current administration, according to several people who spoke on the condition of anonymity about sensitive internal matters and the House bill’s rocky road to passage."
"Much of their disagreement has focused on Venezuela. Rubio, a Cuban American, has been a leading opponent of any concessions to Maduro — whose election the United States considers illegal — since his days as a U.S. senator from Florida. Grenell, with Trump’s approval, has fashioned himself a dealmaker with the Venezuelan leader and argued that if the U.S. doesn’t take Venezuela’s oil, China will," the report noted while adding one insider at the State Department stated Grenell's diplomacy “caught everyone off guard.”
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