President Donald Trump and his administration’s blatant pay-to-play political strategy may be coming back to haunt them.
This time, Vice President JD Vance is in the hot seat along with one of his close political donors and friend, Trump MAGA supporter John Addison.
Addison, an early Vance donor, secured a lucrative multi-million-dollar Venezuelan oil contract for his previous employer after a secret meeting with Vance in Montana, according to a Reuters investigation.
Addison now chairs Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s energy policy advisory board. He received the offer shortly after the illegal U.S. military operation in Venezuela in early January. That operation toppled dictator Nicolas Maduro and secured Venezuela’s vast crude oil reserves for the Trump administration.
Reports credit Addison with securing a $250 million administration contract for Vitol, his former employer. Vitol is a Switzerland-based energy and commodity trading firm with its U.S. headquarters in Houston.
Addison and Vance reportedly met a week before the U.S. military invaded Caracas.
Both have denied the meeting, but Reuters got hold of flight records that show Vance’s Air Force Two and Addison’s private Embraer jet on the tarmac together at the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport on Dec. 27, 2025. The U.S. military operation in Caracas occurred on Jan. 3.
The pair allegedly met at an upscale Yellowstone resort about an hour from the airport.
Citing a person Addison allegedly spoke with afterward, Reuters reported that Vance and Addison discussed Venezuela.
“Vance was particularly interested to know how quickly Venezuelan crude could be sold if the US hypothetically gained control of the country’s oil supplies, the person said. Addison assured Vance that Vitol was uniquely placed to do that job,” the new outlet reported.
When Reuters reached out to Vance and Addison, both their offices claimed the meeting never happened.
“And anyone who says so is absolutely making it up because I’ve never told a single soul that was the case,” Addison told Reuters.
Social media doesn’t believe the denials.
“So we paid for him to fly and to possibly commit treason, okay,” an X user commented.
“I’ve been saying since it happened; it was a money grab. They literally overthrew another country to steal money,” another suggested.
Others chimed in.
“Every day we hear about crimes that would have ended any other presidency. I can’t wait for January.”
The alleged secret meeting is fueling scrutiny over political connections, private profits, and how those connections may have influenced access to the Trump administration.
Reuters also reported that Vitol and rival commodities company Trafigura both secured special licenses to sell Venezuela’s oil through no-bid contracts. Both companies have profited by hundreds of millions of dollars from marketing the Venezuelan oil.
Congressman Robert Garcia, the incoming chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to both companies in January. Garcia wanted information on how Vitol and Trafigura secured the licenses, Reuters reported.
Garcia at the time said he was concerned because of Addison’s political donations to Trump and Vance and whether Vance gave the companies a heads-up on the then-upcoming U.S. military action in Venezuela.
“For months, Oversight Democrats have been demanding answers about the Trump Administration’s massive Venezuelan oil deal and whether oil-company insiders received advance warning of military action against Venezuela,” Garcia told Reuters.
“New reporting that JD Vance met with a senior Vitol trader before Maduro’s capture raises even more questions about who knew what and when,” he added.
Now that Democrats have taken back control of both chambers of Congress, Garcia will soon be in a position to get some answers to those questions.
