Senate Democrats launch investigation into alleged Trump ‘quid pro quo’ with oil executives
CNN
Senate Democrats have launched an inquiry into recent reports that Donald Trump offered oil executives the reversal of some of President Joe Biden’s climate policies upon the former president’s reelection in exchange for campaign contributions.
Senate Democrats have launched an inquiry into recent reports that Donald Trump offered oil executives the reversal of some of President Joe Biden’s climate policies upon the former president’s reelection in exchange for campaign contributions. The chairs of the Senate Finance and Budget committees announced in a joint statement Thursday that they have sent letters to nine oil companies, including ExxonMobile and Chevron, asking for additional information related to a fundraiser event where Trump allegedly sought $1 billion in campaign contributions in return for promises of policy changes to benefit their companies. The committees are seeking “descriptions of policy proposals discussed” and “materials distributed to any attendees” at the event. Last week, the House Oversight Committee made a similar request to those companies. “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,” Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island said in a statement. “And now, emboldened by impunity, Mr. Trump and Big Oil are flaunting their indifference to U.S. citizens’ economic well-being for all to see, conferring on how to trade campaign cash for policy changes. Such potential abuses must be scrutinized.” The congressional probe follows an exclusive report from The Washington Post earlier this month that detailed an April fundraiser event at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort. There, sources with knowledge of the meeting told the Post, one executive expressed frustration with current environmental regulations and shared that he had spent $400 million to lobby the Biden administration. In response, Trump allegedly promised that in exchange for a $1 billion contribution to his reelection campaign, he would reverse some climate policies, including ending the Biden administration’s pause on approvals for several pending liquified natural gas export projects “the first day,” according to the Post.
The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.