A week before the United States invaded Venezuela in January and captured its authoritarian leader, US Vice President J.D. Vance flew in Air Force Two for a visit to Montana’s Yellowstone Club, an ultra-exclusive ski and golf resort, Reuters reported.
There, he met an old friend and early financier of his political career, John Addison, a gasoline trader with commodities giant Vitol, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Flight records reviewed by Reuters show Addison’s private Embraer jet and Vance’s vice-presidential plane together on the tarmac at the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, about an hour’s drive from the resort, on Dec. 27, a week before the invasion.
Vance and Addison talked about Venezuela, according to the person, who was given an account of the meeting from Addison. 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.
For this article, both Addison and Vance’s office denied having the Dec. 27 meeting in Montana. “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.
But Addison confirmed to Reuters that on Jan. 5 – two days after the operation that unseated Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and killed up to 100 people – US Energy Secretary Chris Wright called him at his desk in Houston with an irresistible offer.
President Donald Trump’s administration was planning to start selling the South American OPEC nation’s crude to global buyers to finance its coming political transition, and Wright wanted to know from Addison if Vitol wanted the job.
“I thought that he was just going to call to get an update on the market,'” Addison told Reuters in a recent interview. “The phone call went a different way.”
The Department of Energy told Reuters in a statement that Vance and Wright never discussed the sales of Venezuelan oil, and that the department picked Vitol because it is the largest energy and commodity trader in the world.
The Montana meeting and the unusually prominent role played by Addison in securing the lucrative contract raise fresh questions among Democratic lawmakers about how personal connections might have influenced access to government business after the Venezuela operation.
Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and its incoming chair, sent a letter to the heads of both Vitol and Trafigura in January asking questions about the circumstances under which they secured the licenses.
Garcia said in a statement at the time he was concerned about Vitol’s involvement in part because of Addison’s history of pro-Trump political donations. Garcia also expressed concern that Vitol and Trafigura may have been given advance notice of military action against 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.
