Trump seeks bribe from Oil and Gas companies in exchange for ending Biden Climate policies.

[Open Source Intelligence]

Trump Promises Oil & Gas Execs Free Rein — If They Contribute $1 Billion To Campaign


 This is regressive policy for a political bribe. China is kicking our ass on renewable energy and increasingly EV's. Trump seeks to retard the United States on the key technologies we should be pushing and investing in to win the future. Trump is doing this for his own selfish purposes and will leave The United States in worse shape.

 This story should be getting more coverage.

Well because Biden's effectively doing the same thing. His treatment of oil companies' existing contracts in Venezuela in the brief time he raised sanctions after putting Maduro's regime back on sanctions is laughable. ("We're sanctioning Venezuela, but if you had setup a contract with them we'll let you continue.")

[GAinDC]

Biden's campaign needs to share the hell out of this

[Republican Party Stalwart]

"Soliciting donations as a political candidate from people who stand to benefit from your proposed policies" is not "seeking bribes".

Perhaps, but most people have enough tact to not be this explicit about it.

Indeed, confound that awful Trump for openly admitting to doing something which is also done, but usually in a more secretive manner, by virtually all other politicians, including the entirety of his opponents. How dare he be so open and honest?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Top US ethics watchdog investigating Trump over dinner with oil bosses

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) has told the Guardian that it is investigating the dinner at Trump’s club with more than 20 oil and gas company executives. Trump asked them for a $1bn presidential campaign contribution, while at the same time vowing to undo Joe Biden’s restrictions on natural gas export permits, oil drilling and car pollution, the Washington Post reported.

On Trump’s first day in the White House in 2017, Crew sued him for violating the emoluments clauses of the US constitution which forbid federal officeholders from receiving gifts from foreign states. The case, which arose because Trump had refused to divest his business interests, was still open when his presidency ended.

For the bribery statute to be invoked, there would have to be evidence that Trump promised to dismantle regulations in exchange for donations, said Professor Deborah Hellman of the University of Virginia law school. “For him to say ‘I’m doing it because you’re giving me the money’ is a quid pro quo, but to say ‘I’m going to do it, so you should want me to get elected’ is not.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/09/trump-oil-industry-campaign-money/

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

We make it far, far too easy to legally bribe politicians in this country, but much like Donald Trump is too stupid to flush a toilet or carry pizza, he is too stupid to legally solicit bribes. (What does that say about his supporters? Nothing that's not damning.) Although to be fair to Mr. Trump, it is not like he has ever had to face serious consequences for his stupidity and lawbreaking. So far, the most onerous consequence he's had to deal with is sitting in a room he doesn't like for several days.