As Republican lawmakers prepare for an incoming GOP majority, Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee have announced their intention to investigate a “secret” deal the Biden admin made with Saudi Arabia to increase OPEC+ oil production.
On Sunday (December 4), the Committee’s ranking member, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), sent a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken requesting he sends information about the deal meant to increase oil production before the midterms.
In the letter, Comer asserted that the Committee needed to “uncover the facts” regarding “backdoor deals” President Joe Biden or those in his administration had struck with “foreign sources.”
He claimed that Biden had chosen “foreign sources” over “domestic” sources.
Comer explained that the “American people have a right to know” if the Biden admin is “engaging in backdoor market manipulation” with foreign adversaries to gain “favorable election conditions for Democrats.”
In the letter, the Kentucky Republican cited a New York Times report published in October that revealed those in the White House had used private channels to secure an agreement with Saudi Arabia to get OPEC+ nations to increase oil production.
When Biden visited Saudi Arabia in July to meet Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, he thought the deal, brought forward in the spring, had been concluded.
But, following the heavily criticized trip in which Biden fist-bumped bin Salman, Saudi Arabia rebuffed the deal, announcing in October that OPEC would reduce oil production by 2 million barrels daily.
Comer explained the failed deal “raises further questions” about the Biden admin’s “motives” behind suppressing domestic energy production and “covert market manipulation,” which he claimed was “disguised as diplomacy.”
