Trump, Rubio plan visit to Venezuelan oil tanker

CONTESTED: Most reports and AP place the visit in Port Arthur, Texas; one report and Trump's Truth Social post link receipt of the oil to Corpus Christi. Donald Trump and Marco Rubio plan to visit a tanker carrying 1 million barrels of Venezuelan crude on Tuesday for processing at Texas refineries. Trump told reporters the stop is a third stop and said, "We took over Venezuela very successfully, and they've sent me as a gift a boatload of a million barrels of oil, and I'm giving that to the United States of America." He said oil prices are going to be dropping very sharply, very soon. A White House official said the cargo comes at no cost. Trump posted on Truth Social that the oil follows a highly successful military operation and the biggest oil deal in history, the first shipment of billions of barrels, with gasoline and diesel prices soon plummeting. The stop coincides with rallies in Corpus Christi and Lubbock for Ken Paxton against James Talarico. U.S. forces captured Maduro in January; the White House announced in August a deal giving the U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan reserves. Left coverage notes Rubio's Reuters comments that electoral institutions must be replaced before credible elections, exclusion of María Corina Machado's movement from talks, and her criticism of the oil agreement.