Oil Lobby, Fallen Congressman, and Social Media Campaign Failed to Shift Trump Venezuela Policy

A months-long investigation by POLITICO has documented a coordinated effort by energy investors, a disgraced former congressman, and a network of political consultants to steer the Trump administration away from maximum-pressure sanctions on Venezuela, an effort that collapsed as Secretary of State Marco Rubio consolidated control over Latin America policy. The episode illustrates how competing foreign-policy factions, including those backed by significant commercial interests, sought to exploit the ambiguity of special-envoy authorities in the administration's early months.

At the center of the campaign was Harry Sargeant III, a Florida-based billionaire, former Marine Corps fighter pilot, and owner of oil and asphalt transportation interests with longstanding contracts in Venezuela. Sargeant, his wife, and his corporate entities have contributed more than $1 million to Republican causes over the last 20 years. In March 2025, the U.S. Treasury revoked his company Global Oil Terminals' license and ordered it out of Venezuela as part of the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign. Sargeant's attorney, Christopher Kise, denied wrongdoing and disputed claims that his client orchestrated a political influence campaign, insisting Sargeant acted lawfully and focused on protecting American business interests.

To keep his enterprise afloat in Venezuela, Sargeant needed to elevate those in the Trump administration who would push to repair relations rather than pursue regime change through punishing economic sanctions. Sargeant saw Richard Grenell, a skeptic about American interventionism whom Trump tapped for an ambiguous special-envoy role, as a likely champion of that agenda. To amplify Grenell's standing, Sargeant enlisted former Illinois Republican Rep. Aaron Schock. Schock was "engaged in or about February 2025 for a one-time lump sum payment of $100,000," according to Sargeant attorney Christopher Kise. After resigning from Congress in 2015 under a wave of campaign finance scandals, Schock styled himself as a hotel developer and maintained ties to Grenell through Log Cabin Republican events. Schock came under investigation for allegedly misusing taxpayer money and campaign donations; the investigation ended in March 2019 when prosecutors dropped all charges in exchange for his pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count of failing to properly report expenses.

Schock traveled to Caracas in early 2025 and, according to POLITICO's account relayed by multiple outlets, claimed that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez offered him a stake in Venezuelan gold-mining operations if he could prevent the administration from deepening sanctions. Despite Schock's alleged efforts to influence the Trump administration on behalf of a foreign nation, he did not file a notice of those activities under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the law that requires foreign lobbyists to register their lobbying efforts with the federal government. Legal experts told POLITICO it was "unclear" whether Schock's activity would require him to register under FARA. FARA, codified at 22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq., requires any person acting as an agent of a foreign principal, including a foreign government or political party, to register with the Justice Department and disclose that relationship. The statute carries criminal penalties of up to five years imprisonment for willful violations. POLITICO also reported that the FBI has examined aspects of Sargeant's efforts, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Schock and consultant Benjamin Papermaster also assembled a broader coalition. Internal messages reviewed by POLITICO reveal that Schock, Papermaster, and a group of major investors launched a coordinated communications effort to persuade the White House that economic engagement with Venezuela served American interests. That effort intersected with Grenell's operational role. Grenell visited Caracas in January 2025 and met with President Nicolás Maduro at Miraflores Palace; the engagement led to the release of six U.S. nationals detained in Venezuela, as well as an agreement that Venezuela would resume accepting U.S. deportation flights. Schock allegedly helped arrange meetings and diplomatic contacts that contributed to Grenell's January 2025 trip, and participants hoped the diplomatic breakthrough would elevate Grenell's standing inside the administration and strengthen arguments for a less confrontational Venezuela policy.

The strategy failed. On the other side of the internal debate stood Rubio and former special envoy Mauricio Claver-Carone, architects of a pressure campaign aimed at weakening the Maduro regime. The Trump administration moved to revoke Chevron's U.S. Treasury license, General License 41, which the Biden administration had issued in November 2022 to allow Chevron to restart operations in Venezuela. The decisive moment came in May 2025, when the administration allowed key licenses for U.S. companies operating in Venezuela, including Chevron and Sargeant's interests, to expire, signaling that Rubio's camp had prevailed in the internal debate. The Chevron license fell under the Office of Foreign Assets Control's authority within the Treasury Department; OFAC administers the Venezuela Sanctions Regulations under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. § 1701 et seq.

The outcome points to a structural reality of the second Trump administration. The Sargeant-Schock network correctly identified a Grenell-Rubio fault line but miscalculated the weight of personal loyalty and ideological alignment in the administration's foreign-policy hierarchy. Rubio's profile on Venezuela predates his tenure as secretary, rooted in years of Senate oversight of Latin America policy and bipartisan congressional sanctions legislation targeting the Maduro government. Influence operations predicated on bureaucratic arbitrage, specifically using one administration official to neutralize another, appear to carry diminishing returns where access to the principal himself functions as the decisive variable.