President Trump on Tuesday met with oil executives to discuss how to lower fuel prices as Americans face high travel costs for the Labor Day weekend. CBS News correspondent Natalie Brand reports.
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White House strikes Iran, unveils Venezuela oil deal, then meets oil executives to lower fuel prices.
As it ran on the front
Let me be clear: there is no connection between the military operations in Iran, the new agreement with Venezuela, and the meeting with oil executives about pump prices. These are three separate agenda items on three separate days, handled by three separate teams, and any suggestion that the timing is coordinated is — well, actually, they were coordinated, in the sense that the Deputy National Security Advisor briefed all three rooms back to back on Tuesday, but that's a scheduling matter, not a policy matter.
The strikes against Iran were a response to escalation, full stop. Iran responded with its own rhetoric, the President responded to that, and at no point did anyone in this building calculate what a wider conflict does to the price of a barrel of crude. I want to be very careful here: nobody calculated it out loud. There were absolutely models run. There are always models run. That's what the interagency process is for.…
…(cont) The Venezuela agreement stands entirely on its own merits — sanctions relief in exchange for cooperation, a diplomatic win by any measure, and if it happens to open new volume from a country we were previously strangling on purpose, that is a coincidence of the sort that occurs in energy markets constantly. I would not call it a coincidence. I would call it — hold on. I would call it a benefit. A side benefit. The primary benefit is diplomatic.
And the meeting with the oil executives — that meeting was about consumers. It was about the American family at the pump. It had nothing to do with the fact that removing one producer and adding another moves the exact commodity those executives sell for a living. The President simply wanted to hear directly from industry about how prices could come down, and industry simply wanted to be in the room the week two of their competitors changed status. Again — coincidental adjacency, not strategy. I should not have used the word strategy. There is no strategy here. There is only responsiveness. Extremely responsive, extremely fast responsiveness, to a set of events this administration had no advance knowledge would occur exactly when it announced they occurred. That's the statement. That's all I have for you today.
“They bomb the guy selling the oil, cut a deal with the other guy selling the oil, then sit down with the oil companies to talk about your gas bill like it's charity. That's not foreign policy, that's a supply chain with a flag pin on it. Either way the barrel moves, somebody's making the spread, and it isn't the guy filling up on his lunch break.”
“There is absolutely no link between the Iran operation, the Venezuela deal, and the meeting with oil executives — three unrelated items that happen to touch the same commodity in the same week. That's not strategy, that's coincidence. Did I say coincidence? I mean, it's coordinated scheduling, not policy — forget I said strategy.”
The receipts
{beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment The Big Story Administration details oil deal with Venezuela The Trump administration unveiled additional details Monday evening about its new oil deal with Venezuela. AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos The Trump administration unveiled additional details Monday evening about its new oil deal with…
The U.S. conducted more strikes against Iran on Tuesday after two tankers were targeted in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump took to social media to threaten the regime that they will be hit much harder if they retaliate.
The U.S. launched new strikes against Iran on Tuesday after tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz. State Department Spokesman Tommy Pigott joins "The Takeout" to discuss.
President Trump threatened more attacks on Iran on Tuesday. In a Truth Social post, he said, "If the failed Nation of Iran retaliates for this very justified attack, they will be hit again at a much harder and higher level." CBS News national security analyst Aaron MacLean has more.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.