RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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President Donald Trump said Monday that the U.S. has sold more than $13 billion of Venezuelan oil this year.
The U.S. seized control of Venezuela's oil exports after capturing former President Nicolás Maduro in a military raid on Jan. 3. Trump was responding to a question about a Financial Times ' report that estimated how much money his administration had collected from the sales.
"$13 billion from Venezuela? I think even more than that," the president told reporters aboard Air Force One as he traveled to Michigan to tour a General Motors' facility. "We've paid for that war many times over."
Trump said the money is used to run Venezuela. "We're taking in a lot of money — billions and billions of dollars from Venezuela," Trump said.
The U.S. has largely left the Venezuelan government in place after ousting Maduro. Washington has been closely cooperating with interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro.
Democrats in Congress have pressed the administration to disclose how much money it has collected from the sales, how the funds are spent, and how the program is monitored.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Semafor in an April interview that the U.S. had sold around 150 million barrels of Venezuelan oil since January.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress in June that the oil sales are audited by KPMG. The money is held in a Citibank account, Rubio said.
"It's an ongoing audit, so it's not a once a year audit, it's on every expenditure, every single disbursement is audited by KPMG," Rubio told Congress.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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