Trump says U.S. ‘took over Venezuela’ successfully, while conditioning acceptance of midterm results on ‘honest elections’

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States had “taken over Venezuela very successfully” and touted a newly arrived shipment of Venezuelan crude as a gift to the United States, while separately saying he would respect the Nov. 3 midterm election results only if he considered the elections honest.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews before departing for Texas, Trump said: “We took over Venezuela very successfully, and they’ve sent me, as a gift, a boatload of a million barrels of oil.”

A tanker carrying Venezuelan crude arrived in Texas this week and was scheduled to be showcased by Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at Port Arthur. Washington has exercised sweeping influence over Venezuela’s oil sector since U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro in January, but Venezuela remains a sovereign state under interim President Delcy Rodríguez.

The Trump administration has since expanded U.S. access to Venezuelan oil, including an August agreement involving 17 fields and an estimated 65 billion barrels of reserves. Trump has repeatedly described Venezuelan crude shipments and preferential oil access as a “gift” to the United States.

Asked Tuesday whether he would respect the results of next week’s midterm elections regardless of the outcome, Trump replied: “I will if they’re honest elections, yeah.”

The comment comes amid heightened concern over how Trump might respond if Republicans lose control of Congress. He has repeatedly questioned U.S. election systems and alleged fraud without evidence, including after his 2020 presidential defeat.