President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised the arrival of 1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil to be refined in Texas, speaking at the Port of Corpus Christi. Trump said the United States is "making an absolute fortune" because of the situation in the Middle East. He said the Iran war, now eight months old, would "end very soon." He also defended his decision to depose Venezuela's leader, Nicholas Maduro, saying jobs were being created there.
The visit was Trump's third to Texas since September. He campaigned for Ken Paxton, who is running against James Talarico in the U.S. Senate race. Paxton has trailed in nearly every recent poll, according to the report. Trump also backed U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz and Eric Flores, who are in close U.S. House races. Paxton criticized Talarico over his past support for the transgender community.
A report by Democrats on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee said Trump's personal oil and gas holdings roughly doubled. The report put the holdings at between $12.6 million and $46 million at the end of last year, and between $22.5 million and $81.6 million now. Trump said he would free up more federal emergency relief funds for damage from last year's Hill Country floods, at the request of Paxton and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. He did not say what the funds would be or when they would arrive. The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently denied a request for individual assistance.