Trump Hit With Demand for Answers Over $13B Secret

Donald Trump is facing intense scrutiny over the billions his administration has raked in from Venezuela that now appear to have vanished into thin air.

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Analysis by the Financial Times suggests the White House has brought in $13 billion from Venezuelan oil sales so far after capturing despot Nicolas Maduro in January and installing vice president Delcy Rodriguez in his place.

Trump, 80, also eased sanctions against the regime, which the FT notes was “expected to provide a major boost” to Venezuela’s economy, which was struggling “even before last month’s devastating earthquakes.”

The White House has been unclear on the oil money. An executive order said any oil funds would remain Venezuelan property, and be held in U.S. accounts in a “custodial capacity.”

But Trump has said the U.S. is “making a lot of money” from Venezuelan oil, and the U.S. Department of Energy has said the funds “will be disbursed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people.”

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Economists told the newspaper that any evidence of a recovery in Venezuela six months after Maduro’s capture remains “relatively muted,” suggesting a significant share of the $13 billion seized by the U.S. may not have made its way back to the country.

“Trump’s invasion of Venezuela has been about oil, power, and graft from the very beginning, with billions of dollars in Venezuelan oil revenue being controlled by the Trump administration without transparency or safeguards,” Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro, 51, told the FT.

He joins a growing chorus of lawmakers publicly demanding to know where the Trump administration has spent or otherwise stashed the money. Even Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, 64, a Republican, used a Tuesday hearing to call for full disclosure because of “the importance of transparency over where this money is going.”

Venezuela’s need for the oil revenue is only becoming more desperate in the aftermath of the two earthquakes that rocked the capital of Caracas in quick succession toward the end of June, which the U.N. says caused $37 billion in damages and claimed at least 5,300 lives.

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