A Classified Briefing Raises Questions

Following a Senate briefing on Wednesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren took to X with some pointed allegations. Oil company executives, she claimed, appear to "know more about Trump's secret plan to 'run' Venezuela than the American people."

"It's worse than you thought," Warren wrote, though she didn't elaborate on what exactly makes it worse or how much the oil executives actually know. She wrapped up her post with a call to action: "We need public Senate hearings now."

The context here matters. Earlier this week, President Donald Trump announced that the United States will "run" Venezuela following the weekend capture of President Nicolás Maduro. Trump didn't stop there. He threatened military action "worse than Maduro" if Venezuela's interim government under Vice President Delcy Rodriguez refused to cooperate with his plans to "fix" the country.

The Oil Executive Contradiction

Here's where things get interesting. Leading oil executives are flatly denying they held any meetings with the Trump administration before or after the Venezuela raids. That directly contradicts what Trump told reporters over the weekend, when he said he'd already met with "all" U.S. oil companies, both before and after Maduro's capture.

So who's telling the truth? Chevron Corp. (CVX) spokesperson Bill Turenne offered a carefully worded statement to ABC News on Wednesday. The company "had no advance notice of the recent operation," he said.

Turenne added that Chevron executives "meet regularly with government, regulatory and joint venture stakeholders globally as a normal course of Chevron's business, in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations, including U.S. policy."

There's a practical reason oil executives might be hesitant about group White House meetings. Even as energy stocks jumped on Trump's Venezuela remarks, industry leaders have voiced concerns that collective discussions among competitors about investment and production plans could trigger antitrust issues. Meeting together in the same room to talk strategy? That's potentially problematic territory.

What It Means For Oil Markets

While the political drama unfolds, crude oil prices have been sliding. The United States Oil Fund LP (USO), which tracks light, sweet crude oil prices, has dropped 3.43% over the past week.

The fund's technical picture isn't pretty either, showing unfavorable price trends across short, medium, and long-term timeframes. For investors trying to navigate the Venezuela situation and broader energy markets, the uncertainty isn't helping.

The bigger question remains unanswered: What exactly is Trump's plan for Venezuela, and who knew about it before the American public? Warren clearly believes someone's not being straight with the people. Whether public hearings will shed light on the situation or just generate more heat than illumination is anyone's guess.