Trump Saves Citgo, Repped by His Ex-Aides, From New Sanctions

[Julian Englis]

Source: The Daily Beast

The White House on Friday announced a new round of sanctions against Venezuela that explicitly exempt the U.S. arm of the country’s state-owned oil company. That company, Citgo, donated six-figure sums to Trump’s inauguration and recently hired former Trump officials to lobby for that exemption.

The purpose of the new sanctions announced by the administration is to target arms of the Venezuelan government that have supported or facilitated President Nicolas Maduro’s ongoing crackdown on domestic political opposition. The carve out for Citgo was included in the White House statement released on Friday.

“To mitigate harm to the American and Venezuelan people, the Treasury Department is issuing general licenses that allow for transactions that would otherwise be prohibited by the Executive Order,” the White House wrote in a statement on the sanctions. “These include provisions allowing for…transactions only involving Citgo,” and no other sanctioned entity.

Citgo is the U.S. arm of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., the country’s state-owned oil company. Since 2014, Citgo, a Delaware corporation, has fought to insulate its operations from measures aimed at punishing the Maduro regime’s efforts to consolidate political power.

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-just-gave-a-big-carve-out-to-citgo-an-oil-giant-repped-by-his-ex-aides

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This is bribery. I hope it's more for Mueller to act on. May be this was part of the reason for the raid.

[MGKrebs]

1. Ahh, more protection for Moscow...

(From January):
However, there's one development that adds a new wrinkle to Venezuela's rapidly deteriorating situation. In a surprise move this week, the cash-strapped country issued sovereign bonds for the first time in five years, to the tune of $5 billion.

The deal dovetailed with a separate decision by the government to pledge a nearly 50 percent stake in Citgo, its U.S. refinery subsidiary, as collateral for a loan from Rosneft, Russia's state-controlled energy company. The Citgo collateral deal is already being challenged in court by U.S. multinationals, The Wall Street Journal reported this week,

To some, it may seem like another last-ditch effort to keep lights on in Caracas, but market watchers say the arrangement is one to watch for several reasons.

Russia's contentious relationship with the U.S., combined with Venezuela's own long-standing antipathy toward the world's largest economy, could mean trouble if Venezuela fails to make good on its debts. Citgo — owned by Venezuela state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) — is also a major U.S. oil refiner, and in theory could find its assets seized by Russia.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/07/venezuelas-new-5-billion-bond-deal-involves-citgo-russia-and-is-raising-eyebrows.html

So let's see, we sanction Venezuela but protect Russia's asset, and if/when Venezuela defaults, Russia gets the oil company. Sweet!

[Julian Englis]

4. The Russian involvement should be receiving more play

It certainly sounds as if Mueller will be investigating if he hasn't already started

[Perseus]

2. Hypocrisy at its best

That is why I took Pence's trip to Venezuela with a grain of salt...CITGO is owned by the Venezuelan regime, to not sanction them nulls out all other sanctions that will only hurt the people.

Useless Trump!

[SpankMe]

3. ...and even more hypocrisy

When Hugo Chavez was acting up a few years back, all the right wingers advocated a boycott of Citco gas. It was supposed to punish Hugo and Venezuela for being so anti-American.

Now that Trump's in office, punishing Citgo is no longer in fashion.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Anyone surprised?