🧨 Trump Admits He Talked to Oil Companies Before Congress — About Taking Venezuela’s Oil. This isn’t Foreign Policy. It’s Colonial Theft on Camera.

Trump bombed Venezuela, seized its leaders, and says he briefed oil companies first.

Over 100 members of Congress have now said publicly that Donald Trump didn’t even give Congress a courtesy notification before the United States invaded Venezuela, kidnapped its President and First Lady, and then began talking openly about running the country and taking control of its oil.

That is not “policy.” That is not “democracy.” That is colonialism.

And yesterday Trump let something slip that is so revealing it should end the debate about what this is really about.

I’m embedding the video clip at the top of this post. It appears to have been said on Air Force One. A reporter asked Trump:

“Did you speak with the oil companies before the operation? Did you tip them off?”

And Trump answered:

“Before and after. They want to go in and they’re going to do a great job.”

Before I break down why this is such an insane admission, I want to ask you from the heart to become a member today. I keep this work free for the world—for readers in Gaza, for students in public schools, for families living in deep poverty, for elders on fixed incomes—because a smaller circle of people who can afford it chooses to carry the cost. Please click here to become a member and please click here to join as a monthly, annual, or founding member. Your support keeps this work free for them, and even for you when you can’t afford to pay.

Now let’s name what Trump just admitted, plainly.

He spoke to oil companies before he spoke to Congress.

Not after. Not “as part of rebuilding.” Not “in the future.” Before.

And that is the confession.

Because the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to authorize war. Even the War Powers framework assumes Congress must be notified and brought into the process. But this administration didn’t just bypass Congress—it bypassed the American people. And now Trump is telling you, openly, who he prioritized.

Oil companies.

The corporations.

The people who want to “go in.”

This is not a “slip.” It is the operating logic of empire coming out of his mouth without a filter.

If you are trying to understand what this operation in Venezuela was really about, Trump just told you.

It was about oil.

It was about extraction.

It was about plunder dressed up in legal language.

And I need you to understand how abnormal this is.

In a functioning democracy, the sequence is supposed to go like this: the government makes a case, Congress debates and authorizes, the public understands the risks, and any use of force is constrained by law. You don’t get to bomb a country and then outsource the “benefits” to corporations.

But in an empire, the sequence goes like this: the corporations get briefed, the military moves, the propaganda machine explains it afterward, and the people are told to salute and be quiet.

That’s what “Before and after” means.

It means he treated Venezuelan sovereignty like a business opportunity.

It means he treated the kidnapping of a head of state like a logistical step.

It means he treated war like a project plan with investors.

And it means he assumed there would be no consequences—because he assumes the United States is above the rules.

Now let’s talk about what this implies legally and morally, because we are not dealing with a “controversy.” We are dealing with crimes.

Under the U.N. Charter, states are prohibited from using force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state except under narrow circumstances like self-defense against an armed attack or explicit authorization by the Security Council. A sovereign state’s leader being seized in a military operation and removed to another country is not “law enforcement.” It is an act of war, and it’s a violation of sovereignty.

Under the laws of war and basic human rights principles, the idea that a foreign power can bomb a capital, kill civilians, abduct the leadership, and then announce it will “run” the country until a “proper transition” is the exact kind of behavior international law was designed to prevent.

It’s colonialism with better cameras.

And the oil-company admission makes it even uglier, because it undercuts every moral justification they’ve tried to sell.

For months, Trump has been screaming about drugs, cartels, and fentanyl—despite credible experts repeatedly saying Venezuela is not the driver of fentanyl flows the way he claims. We have watched his administration use “drugs” as a blank check to bomb boats, strike targets, and normalize violence at sea.

Now, after the invasion, he is openly telling you the corporate beneficiaries were briefed. He’s smiling while he says it. He’s describing them as if they are the real stakeholders.

“They want to go in.”

Who is “they”?

Not the Venezuelan people.

Not the U.S. Congress.

Not the American public.

Oil companies.

And I want you to see how this connects to the larger pattern we’ve been living through for more than two years.

Gaza has taught the world that international law means next to nothing when power decides it’s inconvenient. The U.N. can hold emergency meetings. Courts can issue statements. Human rights bodies can plead. And the empire can keep moving.

That impunity has now metastasized.

If the United States can treat Gaza like a slaughterhouse by proxy—funding, arming, shielding—then it can treat Venezuela like a corporate takeover by force. The logic is the same: the rules are for weaker countries, not for us.

And if you think this stops in Venezuela, you’re not paying attention. Trump has already floated the next escalation openly—talking about Mexico as if it’s a problem to be “handled,” not a sovereign nation with its own government.

This is how imperial thinking spreads: once you accept the idea that the U.S. can “run” another country, the list of countries becomes a menu.

Family, I want you to imagine for a moment how this would be discussed if the roles were reversed.

If China bombed a Latin American capital, kidnapped its president, and then admitted on camera that it briefed state-owned companies before it briefed any legislature, what would Americans call it?

We would call it aggression.

We would call it colonialism.

We would call it a crime.

We would call it a threat to world peace.

And we would be right.

So when the United States does it, the words don’t change. The morality doesn’t change. The law doesn’t change. The only thing that changes is whether the world has the courage to enforce those words against the empire.

And for years, the answer has been: no.

That’s why Trump feels safe saying “before and after” like it’s normal.

Because he is operating inside a system where the U.S. isn’t held accountable—by courts, by institutions, or too often even by its own Congress.

That’s why this moment is so important. It’s a receipt. It’s the confession in plain language. It’s the motive stated out loud.

Oil companies were briefed before Congress.

That’s not just insane. That’s indictment-level corruption. That’s a war motive you can hear with your own ears.

This is theft on a national scale.

And it has to be denounced as such.

If you want me to keep doing this work—staying on top of the receipts, calling things what they are, refusing propaganda language—please stand with me. Please click here to become a member and please click here to join as a monthly, annual, or founding member. I’m committing full-time to this work in 2026—articles, investigations, podcasts, video—and that requires support staff and a serious base of members.

Love and appreciate each of you.
Your friend and brother,
Shaun

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