On July 24, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about U.S. nuclear innovation in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.
Mandel Gunn | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States has collected more than $13 billion in sales of Venezuelan oil since the overthrow of former President Nicolas Maduro.
The United States took control of Venezuelan oil exports after capturing President Maduro in a military raid on January 3. Trump was responding to questions about a Financial Times report that estimated the amount his administration would collect from the sale.
“Thirteen billion dollars from Venezuela? I think it’s more than that,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One during a visit to Michigan to tour a General Motors facility. “We have paid the price for that war many times over.”
President Trump said the money would be used to run Venezuela. “We’re taking in a lot of money from Venezuela. Billions of dollars,” President Trump said.
Even after ousting President Maduro, the United States has left the Venezuelan government largely intact. The U.S. government has worked closely with interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who served as vice president under Maduro.
The Venezuelan flag waves in front of an oil tanker on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, on July 27, 2026.
Jose Isaac Bra | Anadolu | Getty Images
Congressional Democrats want the administration to reveal how much money is collected from the sales, how the funds will be used and how the program will be monitored.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Semaphore in an April interview that the United States has sold about 150 million barrels of Venezuelan oil since January.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress in June that oil sales were being audited by KPMG. Rubio said the funds are held in a Citibank account.
“This is an ongoing audit, so it’s not an annual audit, it’s done on all spending, and all spending is audited by KPMG,” Rubio told Congress.
Wright said in February that the Trump administration initially deposited $500 million in proceeds into a Qatari account controlled by the U.S. government. The US then opened a Treasury account and stopped sending money to the Qatari account, he said.
State Department official Michael Kozak told Congress in April that about $3 billion had been disbursed from Treasury accounts. Kozak said the funds were used to pay salaries of Venezuelan government employees, purchase supplies for the country’s oil industry and other approved uses.
Mr. Rubio authorized the disbursement of the funds based on an executive order issued by President Trump on January 9. The executive order states that the funds are property of the Venezuelan government held in the custody of the United States.
