President Trump insisted Thursday that a Florida oil magnate casting himself as a White House adviser on Venezuela has no influence over US policy toward the South American country.
“There is a story about a man named Harry Sargeant III in The Wall Street Journal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He has no authority, in any way, shape, or form, to act on behalf of the United States of America, nor does anyone else that is not approved by the State Department.”
“Without this approval, no one is authorized to represent our Country,” he added.
“He has no authority, in any way, shape, or form, to act on behalf of the United States of America, nor does anyone else that is not approved by the State Department,” President Trump said about Florida oil magnate Harry Sargeant III. REUTERSSargeant, a Marine veteran and the owner of International Oil Trading Company, has long sought to open up Venezuela’s oil market — even cozying up to now-arrested dictator Nicolas Maduro in the past while betting that sanctions relief or renewed US engagement would reopen its energy sector to American firms.
Supporters in the WSJ report referenced by Trump described Sargeant as a dealmaker who could help revive Venezuela’s collapsed industry, while critics argued his approach risked enriching insiders and legitimizing the authoritarian government in Caracas.
In the article, Sargeant claimed “I’d be naive to say I didn’t move the meter” in convincing the president to support holdovers from the Maduro regime following the left-wing authoritarian’s Jan. 3 arrest and removal to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges.
“I don’t think I was the determining factor in this,” he added, “but it helped move the meter.”
On Jan. 8, Reuters reported the billionaire was “advising the Trump administration on how the US can engineer a return of some American oil companies to Venezuela.”
Sargeant, a Marine veteran and the owner of International Oil Trading Company, has long sought to open up Venezuela’s oil market, with Trump describing him as a dealmaker who could help revive Venezuela’s industry. REUTERSIn response, a senior administration official told The Post the report was “not true. At all.”
The day after the Reuters report was published, Trump held a large meeting with dozens of top oil executives on investment in Venezuela — to which Sargeant was not invited.
It’s unclear why stories about Sargeant’s purported role in the administration have been circulating since the US arrested Maduro, who had the habit of fondly calling the magnate “abuelo”—”grandpa” in Spanish.
A source close to the administration and familiar with Sargeant’s lobbying efforts claimed Thursday that he wants to “frame himself as an administration surrogate and undermine the president’s mission to secure the Western Hemisphere.”
Sargeant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
