Just to recap – the Trump administration, without the knowledge of or approval of Congress, launched military strikes against boats of alleged drug smugglers in a manner that many legal experts have said was a violation of both international and U.S. military law. The administration also launched a covert military raid that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan president, Nicholas Maduro, who was whisked out of the country and is now in a prison in the United States. Again, without any Congressional oversight, the administration began seizing oil tankers containing Venezuelan oil and has said that it now controls the Venezuelan oil infrastructure. Finally, the oil confiscated from Venezuela has been sold for a reported $500 million on the open market and the proceeds of that sale have been placed in bank accounts in Qatar rather than under the control of the U.S. Treasury.
All this raises many questions but besides leaving Congress totally in the dark during most of these operations, what in the world gives the administration the legal authority to set up offshore bank accounts that are not subject to U.S. laws? That should raise a huge red flag for every single citizen of this country! This is what every single corrupt, tin pot dictator has done for decades.
The administration has stated they did this because they want to ‘protect’ the funds from lawsuits that might be brought by oil companies to recover the money they lost when their investments in Venezuela were nationalized many years ago. Bullshit! Since the currently corrupt DOJ under Pam Bondi is finding ways to skirt the law to delay and deny the release of the Epstein files, I’m sure they are creative enough to fight off any challenges posed by the oil companies.
The result of this is that now there are hundreds of millions of dollars under the direct control of the Trump administration in offshore bank accounts in Qatar. What could go wrong? There is absolutely no transparency into where and to whom these dollars go and how they are spent. Also, don’t forget that Qatar invested somewhere between $1.5 and $2 billion dollars in Jared Kushner’s hedge fund so there are already what some would call shady financial ties between the Trump family and Qatar.
No one should be fooled. These funds are funds that Trump believes he can spend any way he chooses. They are not subject to U.S. laws. They are not subject to Congressional oversight. This is simply a slush fund that Trump can use for anything he wants – legal or illegal. Will some of this money find its way into Trump family pockets? Who the hell knows? As he sells more Venezuelan oil, more and more dollars will flow into these offshore accounts unless Congress steps in to try to stop this corrupt nonsense. However, given that Congress has already ceded their Constitutional power to levy taxes (tariffs), declare war, appropriate and spend taxpayer dollars, I wouldn’t expect them to step in and do anything about this. They have demonstrated repeatedly they are nothing more than a bunch of spineless sycophants.
The hundreds of millions of dollars being routed to these offshore accounts could make a huge positive impact on many American lives if it were spent for ‘we the people’ but we all know it will be a cold day in hell before that happens. The fact that this corruption is taking place on such a huge scale and so brazenly in the light of day is a sad commentary on the priorities of those that continue to support this megalomaniac. The United States, once ‘land of the free and home of the brave’ is now the ‘land of the oppressed and the home of the corrupt.’
