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ExxonMobil’s CEO told President Donald Trump during a Friday meeting that Venezuela is currently “uninvestible” following the US invasion and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, underscoring fears that American taxpayers will be left footing the bill for the administration’s goal of exploiting the South American nation’s vast petroleum resources.

Trump had hoped to convince executives from around two dozen oil companies to invest in Venezuela after the president claimed US firms pledged to spend at least $100 billion in the country. However, Trump got a reality check during Friday’s White House meeting, as at least one Big Oil CEO balked at committing financial and other resources in an uncertain political, legal, and security environment.

Republicans are increasingly concerned about maintaining Senate control in the upcoming midterm election, expressing frustration that Donald Trump is undermining their efforts.

The party faces challenging circumstances. While poor approval ratings—partly attributable to the president's inability to address cost-of-living concerns—make House losses likely, Republicans have remained confident about retaining the Senate.

That confidence has wavered following Trump's attacks on five Republican senators who voted with Democrats to limit his military authority regarding Venezuela. His criticism of Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) has particularly alarmed GOP leadership.

According to The Hill reporter Al Weaver, "While Republicans were miffed at the attack on the handful of members, it's Collins they are most concerned with as she potentially holds the key to them retaining the majority next year."

One anonymous GOP senator expressed frustration: "You probably ought not take on the chair of Appropriations, who's a little bit pissed off about not getting regular order appropriations done. And now you're s——g on her on this sort of stuff?"

RELATED: GOP lawmakers panicked they 'can't count' on 'out-of-touch' Trump: report

Republicans drew parallels to Trump's 2021 attacks on Georgia GOP candidates, which contributed to Democrats winning both of that state's Senate seats.

Senate leadership has long protected Collins, a Maine centrist and frequent Trump target. Both parties acknowledge she represents the only Republican candidate likely to win her seat in 2024. Without her, the seat would likely be lost permanently, similar to recent Democratic losses in Montana and West Virginia.

One GOP operative acknowledged the political calculus: "These aren't new feelings, right? He was able to understand—call it the World Wrestling Federation aspect of this—and was able to take his foot off the gas because at the end of the day, obviously, she's better than Graham Platner and Janet Mills will be for him."

Republican leadership already worried the 73-year-old Collins might decline to seek re-election. Trump's recent attacks could potentially push her toward that decision.

Before meeting with health insurance executives to pressure them into lowering prices, Trump administration allies are acknowledging the president will likely achieve minimal results.

According to Politico reporter Cheyenne Haslett, the president has announced plans to "strong arm" the insurance industry to assist in addressing the affordability crisis that has plagued his administration.

Donald Trump may not appreciate the gesture, but the Wall Street Journal editorial board encouraged the president to toss one of his harshest critics a note of gratitude.

In a Friday editorial, the Journal argued that Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) forceful defense of presidential war powers during a vote rebuking Trump over U.S. actions in Venezuela deserves the MAGA leader’s praise. The Senate voted 52-47 to advance a war powers resolution limiting Trump’s authority – a move the Journal’s conservative editorial board said Trump didn’t take well.

The Department of Homeland Security and its leader “do not deserve the benefit of the doubt,” according to MS NOW analyst Philip Bump, who argued in a searing op-ed that the agency and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have developed an “honesty problem.”

“You cannot trust the Department of Homeland Security,” Bump wrote Friday, citing data and public misstatements under the Trump administration. He told readers that his conclusion “seems like a political statement, but it isn’t.”

Internal doubts are quietly swirling inside the Trump White House following the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE officer in Minneapolis – an incident that some in the administration worry officials moved too quickly to frame as “domestic terrorism.”

That’s according to Politico, which reported Friday that the unease centers around public remarks made by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who told reporters in a Wednesday visit to South Texas that 37-year-old Renee Good, the woman killed in the encounter, had committed an act of “domestic terrorism.” She further alleged that Good had attempted to “ram them with her vehicle.”

President Donald Trump announced a sweeping new affordability measure aimed at American consumers, proposing in a pair of Truth Social media posts on Friday dramatic changes to credit card interest rates – and touting his second term in the White House as “historic and very successful.”

“Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off’ by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%, and even more,” Trump wrote, adding that such practices “festered unimpeded during the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration."

President Donald Trump has repeatedly talked about how much oil America will gain as a result of deposing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro — but experts have said he doesn't have a clear grasp on what he's talking about, Notus reported on Friday.

Trump's Venezuela operation captured Maduro, a socialist autocrat who has been wanted for years under U.S. law and has refused to honor the results of elections voting him out of office, although at least for the time being, his allies still control the country. But Trump has claimed Venezuela will be handing over up to 50 million barrels of oil.

The Washington National Opera’s decision to leave the Kennedy Center after more than five decades set off a political and cultural firestorm – and critics wasted no time framing it as a direct rebuke of President Donald Trump’s second-term overhaul of the iconic institution.

The New York Times, which broke the story Friday, described the move as “perhaps the largest artistic rebuke yet” to Trump’s campaign to remake the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in his own image. The opera company, which has performed at the center since 1971, cited declining attendance and donations over the last year as key factors behind the decision.

A federal judge threw a wrench in the Trump administration's plan Friday to cut off billions of dollars in funding for child care and social services in blue cities.

Judge Arun Subramanian ordered the administration to release the money while a legal battle plays out over the $10 billion freeze, The New York Times reported Friday evening. The move came less than 24 hours after New York, California, Minnesota, Illinois, and Colorado sued over the move.

The Washington National Opera is pulling the plug on its 55-year relationship with the Kennedy Center, marking another shocking rejection of President Donald Trump's makeover of the iconic venue.

The opera company's board voted Friday to terminate its affiliation and relocate performances from the Kennedy Center's 2,300-seat Opera House. The move comes after a chaotic year marked by artist cancellations, plummeting ticket sales, and donor revolt.

President Donald Trump called up Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in a fury to shout at her over the war powers vote on Venezuela earlier this week, The Hill reported on Friday.

"According to two sources familiar, a fuming Trump dialed up Collins, the foremost Senate GOP centrist, during the vote aimed at blocking the White House from using military force against Venezuela," reported Al Weaver. One of her GOP colleagues told The Hill, “he called her and then basically read her the riot act” in a "profanity-laced" shouting session. Trump reportedly told her she is undermining his authority over the military and national security.

President Donald Trump’s sinking approval numbers are a warning sign that cracks are forming well beyond his MAGA base, according to Sarah Longwell, the longtime Republican strategist and publisher of The Bulwark.

In a conversation on The Bulwark’s podcast out Friday, Longwell laid out a grim picture for Trump, pointing to a series of polls she described as “lousy” showing the MAGA leader stuck near historic lows.