Back in July, a seemingly desperate President Joe Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia on a high-stakes trip where he met the Saudi Royal family, including the controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The president took a lot of heat for the trip for several reasons, including his scheduled meetup with the crown prince, who had previously signed off on the murder of WaPo journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden was also criticized for appearing to use the trip to request help from a foreign nation on the oil production front, though the White House denied that was the case.
However, in a bombshell revelation this week, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who will soon lead the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee, announced that his committee will investigate what he believes to be a “secret deal” with Saudi Arabia regarding increasing OPEC+ oil production to manipulate the U.S. energy market ahead of the 2022 midterms.
That probe will take part in a broader investigation into the Biden administration’s disastrous energy policies that have cost U.S. jobs and had a devastating effect on the pocketbooks of hard-working Americans.
🚨NEW🚨@RepJamesComer launches probe into President Biden’s energy crisis that is harming the pocketbooks of Americans.
He is calling on senior leadership to provide information related to the Biden Administration’s failed policies.https://t.co/6wsLrQrhZ5
— Oversight Committee Republicans (@GOPoversight) December 4, 2022
As far as Comer is concerned, by the time Biden met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his trip in July, the backroom deal was already solidified. Comer cited an October piece from The New York Times that indicated the Biden administration struck some type of OPEC+ deal just a few months before the president’s July trip.
The specifics of such a deal are unknown, but if true, it’s a safe bet to presume that the Biden administration wants to keep the details unknown to the public.
Comer fired off a letter over the weekend to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which he demanded more information about any possible deals.
“This Committee has a responsibility to uncover the facts surrounding any backdoor deals cut by President Biden or his emissaries. The President is choosing foreign sources over domestic source [sic]—all for political purposes,” Comer’s letter read.
It added, “If his Administration is engaging in backdoor market manipulations with adversarial nations while jeopardizing our national security for the sake of securing more favorable election conditions for Democrats, the American people have a right to know.”
Absolutely we have a right to know. Thankfully, we have a few Republicans in Congress with the backbone to spearhead such an investigation.
And suppose Comer’s investigation uncovers a clandestine, “backdoor deal” with Saudi Arabia? In that case, watch out for serious fireworks on Capitol Hill, especially as Republicans assume subpoena and investigative powers in January at the start of the 118th Congress.
Comer, on behalf of the Republicans on the Oversight and Reform Committee, demanded in his letter to Blinken to learn more about the information cited in the October NYT report.
“The Committee is investigating reports of a ‘secret deal to boost oil production’ between the Biden Administration and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The New York Times reported that Biden Administration officials believed President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia in August 2022 ‘could shore up a Saudi commitment to convince OPEC to increase oil production,'” Comer’s letter began.
“According to the New York Times, in May 2022, Amos Hochstein, the Administration’s Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Affairs at the State Department and Brett McGurk, a senior National Security Council official, sought a clandestine, two-part arrangement with Saudi Arabia to increase foreign fossil fuel output,” the letter continued.
The letter continued in great detail and laid out specifically which documents and transcriptions Comer wants from Blinken. The Kentucky Republican concluded that he expects his committee to receive the requested materials by Dec. 19.
Comer’s primary point of contention, echoing millions of commonsense-thinking Americans, is that the Biden administration begging for oil from foreign, and oftentimes adversarial nations, is a direct threat to U.S. national security, especially with the backdrop of knowing that the United States sits on some of the largest deposits of oil in the world.
But for some reason, Biden insists on going elsewhere for that precious black gold, including his most recent asinine decision to allow Chevron to resume oil production in Venezuela, as PJ Media’s Chris Queen reported in November.
If Comer’s committee can prove that the Biden administration brokered a secret oil deal with Saudi Arabia simply to artificially and temporarily decrease oil and gas prices in the U.S. ahead of the 2022 midterms, it’ll be yet another valid reason to talk impeachment next year.
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