Oil bigwigs open wallets for Trump after billion-dollar request

Oil and gas tycoons made significant contributions to the Trump campaign after the former president asked the industry for $1 billion to support his reelection bid — and reportedly said it would be a “deal” for them to do so.

A source told The Hill earlier this year that the $1 billion request at an April fundraiser was not framed as any sort of quid pro quo. Nevertheless, Democrats have described the incident as corruption and said they would investigate it, and this was the first election where several oil industry donors opened their pockets for Trump.

Two executives who reportedly attended Trump oil industry fundraisers this spring later made significant contributions to Trump-aligned political committees — something they hadn’t done in previous presidential cycles.

Cheniere Energy CEO Jack Fusco donated $250,000 to the joint fundraising Trump 47 Committee in June, according to records from the FEC. The committee then distributed $6,600 to the Trump campaign and $243,400 to the Republican National Committee (RNC).

As a joint fundraising committee, the Trump 47 Committee allocates funds to the Trump campaign and the RNC and, once the contribution limits are maxed out, to other participating political committees.

Fusco attended a dinner where Trump told energy executives that they should raise $1 billion to support his return to the presidency and that doing so would be a “deal” because of the money they would save on taxes and regulations, according to The Washington Post.

The Post reported that other attendees included executives from companies including Occidental Petroleum, though it did not name them.

In July, Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub also appears to have donated $41,300 to the RNC through the Trump 47 Committee, according to the contribution memo, and another $41,300 to the RNC on the same day. Campaign finance records show she gave $6,600 to the Trump campaign and $5,000 to Save America, Trump's leadership PAC, through Trump 47.

The FEC’s website lists “retired” as the employer of the Vicki Hollub who made the $41,300 donations, but she shares the middle initial and mailing address of the Vicki Hollub who leads Occidental, according to other FEC receipts. Some of the other donations from Vicki Hollub do not list an employer at all, but still list the same mailing address.

Separately, The Post reported that at a different fundraiser in May, Trump promised oil and gas companies that he would reduce Federal Trade Commission (FTC) scrutiny of their mergers and acquisitions.

Trump specifically promised Occidental better treatment after Hollub complained that the agency is delaying Occidental’s acquisition of oil and gas producer CrownRock and probed her phone, according to The Post.

A spokesperson for Occidental did not respond to The Hill’s requests for comment and clarification. A Cheniere Energy spokesperson declined to comment.

The Guardian and The Post reported that Hollub, alongside Energy Transfer Partners's Kelcy Warren and Continental Resources’s Harold Hamm co-hosted the May fundraiser for Trump. Hamm, a major Trump donor, also reportedly organized the April fundraiser.

While Hamm supported former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley earlier this election cycle, he had backed Trump in 2020 and 2016. Hamm gave a total of $320,000 to the Trump Victory PAC, the former president’s joint fundraising PAC, in 2020 and a total of $449,400 in 2016.

In late March, Hamm donated $614,000 to the Trump 47 Committee. He also gave $200,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. in November 2023, less than two months after he contributed $100,000 to the pro-Haley SFA Fund.

Spokespeople for Continental did not respond to requests for comment from The Hill.

Bryan Sheffield, who founded the oil and gas-focused private equity group Formentera Partners, told The Hill that Hamm had called him “and talked me into joining his efforts on helping [T]rump.”

“He is a good salesman, [because I] was still team Haley,” wrote Sheffield, who said he did not attend the April or May fundraisers.

Sheffield had contributed $6,600 to Haley’s campaign and loaded a total of $320,000 into the pro-Haley super PAC, SFA Fund, according to FEC records. Haley dropped out of the race in March 2024.

Sheffield gave $844,600 to the Trump 47 Committee in May, one of the biggest donations the joint fundraising committee has reported receiving so far this election cycle. Of that topline total, $6,600 went to the Trump campaign, $413,000 to the RNC and $5,000 to Trump’s Save America leadership PAC.

While Sheffield has contributed to Republican candidates and committees since 2012, this is his first time financially backing Trump, according to FEC records. He told The Hill while he is "generally a [R]epublican," Sheffield also voted for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) in 2016 and supports Austin Mayor Kirk Watson (D)

"It seems I'm a confused moderate at times," Sheffield wrote, "probably like most [A]merican voters."

Just over two weeks before the donation date listed on the FEC website, his father, former Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield, had his own run-in with the FTC as part of the company's proposed merger with Exxon.

When the FTC cleared a merger between Exxon and Pioneer in early May, they barred the elder Sheffield from the board to prevent "collusive activity,” alleging he had colluded with OPEC and OPEC+ to keep oil prices high.

The younger Sheffield said that while the donation “timing is strange” amid the Pioneer deal, he ultimately wrote the Trump 47 check because the “industry is under attack from a political party, even though our resources lift poverty.”

“[It's] frowned upon, on using agencies as political weapons,” he added.

Other energy executives who reportedly attended April or May Trump fundraisers have also made significant contributions to the Trump campaign and groups supporting him.

Warren, executive chairman of Energy Transfer Partners — one of the owners of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline — donated a whopping $5 million to pro-Trump super PAC Make America Great Again Inc. in late May.

Warren also gave $10 million to the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action in 2020.

Another Energy Transfer Partners executive, Ray Davis, who also co-owns the Texas Rangers baseball team, gave $407,300 to the joint fundraising committee in June. Of that total, $395,100 went to the RNC, $6,600 went to the Trump campaign and $5,000 went to Save America.

Reports did not indicate that Davis attended the dinner, and spokespeople for Energy Transfer did not respond to questions from The Hill. Davis did not appear to make similar contributions in 2020.

"Soft money" contributions from individuals and PACs affiliated with the oil and gas industry have skyrocketed during the 2024 election cycle.

These donors have given at least $147.7 million to party committees and outside groups, according an analysis from OpenSecrets of reports filed with the FEC as of Oct. 17. In line with historical trends, the vast majority of that total — $134 million — has gone toward groups supporting conservatives.

While OpenSecrets’ 2024 totals do not yet include the latest monthly and pre-general contribution reports, industry affiliates have contributed more than twice as much soft money as they did during the entire 2020 election cycle, when they gave a total of $65.9 million.

The Trump campaign has also been the biggest recipient of "hard money" donations from individuals and PACs affiliated with the oil and gas industry. According to OpenSecrets' analysis of FEC reports through Oct. 17, Trump has received around $1.7 million in “hard money” contributions from these industry donors, while the Harris campaign has received $938,648.

“Kamala Harris is controlled by environmental extremists who are trying to implement the most radical energy agenda in history and force Americans to purchase electric vehicles they can’t afford,” said Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary.

Leavitt did not directly address questions from The Hill about donations from executives who attended Trump’s fundraisers.