Trump Literally Sold Climate Policy to Oil Executives for Campaign Cash
On April 11, 2024, Donald Trump sat down with twenty oil and gas executives at Mar-a-Lago for dinner. He made them an offer. Raise $1 billion for his campaign, and he’d give them everything they wanted. Eliminate regulations. Cut their taxes. Roll back environmental protections. Fast-track their mergers.
“You all are wealthy enough,” Trump told them. “You should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House.” He said giving him a billion dollars would be a “deal” because of how much money they’d save on taxes and regulations.
That’s not governance. That’s a transaction. That’s selling public policy to the highest bidder. That’s corruption.
The oil executives responded. They gave at least $75 million to Trump’s campaign and affiliated PACs. Continental Resources donated $1 million immediately after the dinner. Cheniere Energy’s CEO gave $250,000. After Trump won, they poured another $11.8 million into his inauguration fund. Energy Transfer Partners and its CEO gave another $25 million after he took office.
And Trump delivered exactly what he promised.
His signature legislative package gave oil and gas companies $18 billion in tax incentives. He forced coal plants to stay open with emergency orders—costing consumers between $3 and $6 billion per year to prop up broken, unnecessary plants. He withdrew from the Paris Agreement again. He’s now trying to revoke the EPA endangerment finding—the legal foundation that allows the government to regulate greenhouse gases.
On February 12, 2026, Trump stood in the White House Roosevelt Room and announced the EPA was eliminating its 2009 determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health. He called it the “single largest deregulatory action in American history.” He eliminated all vehicle emission standards that followed from that finding.
The EPA’s own data showed those vehicle standards would have saved American consumers $58 billion per year on fuel between 2027 and 2055. That’s real money out of your pocket so oil companies can sell more gasoline.
Trump Interior Secretary Doug Burgum admitted the point on Fox Business: “The whole endangerment thing opens up the opportunity for the revival of clean, beautiful American coal.” There it is. Prop up coal. Eliminate fuel efficiency standards. Make Americans buy more fossil fuels.
The American Geophysical Union pointed out the science behind the endangerment finding is stronger now than in 2009. The National Academies confirmed it last year. Every major scientific organization agrees. Trump doesn’t care. He’s not governing based on science or what’s good for Americans. He’s governing based on who paid him.
This is crony capitalism at its most blatant. Trump asked for money. Oil executives gave him money. Trump is now using the power of the presidency to enrich those same executives at the expense of everyone else.
Climate disasters cost America $115 billion in 2025. They killed 276 people. We’re averaging one billion-dollar climate disaster every ten days. The science is clear. The costs are mounting. Americans are dying.
And Trump sold our ability to address it for campaign contributions.
Congressional Democrats launched investigations into this quid pro quo scheme. Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden and House Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin demanded answers. The oil companies refused to fully cooperate. They didn’t refute the accuracy of the reports. They just made excuses and provided incomplete responses.
Because they know what happened. Trump made them an offer. They accepted. And now they’re collecting their returns while Americans pay higher fuel costs, breathe dirtier air, and face worsening climate disasters.
That’s not “America First.” That’s Donald Trump First. That’s fossil fuel executives first. That’s everyone else last.
Still think he’s draining the swamp?
Sources:
Brennan Center for Justice: “Fossil Fuel Industry Donors See Major Returns in Trump’s Policies”
Washington Post: “What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign”
Center for American Progress: “The Trump Administration Delivers Yet Another Giveaway for Big Oil”
NBC News: “EPA reverses long-standing climate change finding”