Republican demands hearing into whether Biden tried to sway election with Saudi Arabia oil request 

Claims that the Biden administration asked Saudi Arabia to cut oil production ahead of next month’s midterm elections could constitute an illegal request for a foreign in-kind campaign donation, according to a Republican member of the House natural resources committee.

Rep. Tom Tiffany on Thursday demanded the release of transcripts of any calls between President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris and Saudi officials.

And he said hearings were needed to get to the bottom of what happened.

It came hours after the Saudi foreign minister said American officials ‘suggested’ postponing a decision to reduce output by two million barrels a day until after November 8, when millions of Americans will cast their ballots.

‘The allegations from the Saudi foreign ministry are serious, and if the Biden administration did attempt to pressure a foreign government to influence the outcome of the U.S. election, that’ something Americans deserve to know,’ said Tiffany in a tweet.

American officials expressed deep anger last week when the OPEC+ oil coalition  announced plans to keep prices high by cutting production.

That threatens to reverse reductions in gas prices at American pumps, adding to Biden’s woes ahead of midterms that will decide who runs Congress. 

Now Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany is demanding hearings into whether the Biden administration pressured Saudi Arabia to delay the cut until after the midterms

In his letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Tiffany said it may ‘constitute an illegal solicitation of a foreign in-kind by the White House on behalf of Democrats’ midterm campaign efforts’

Tiffany also wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi outlining her concerns and urging her to use her powers of oversight.

‘This is a very serious allegation,’ he wrote. ‘One that, if true, may very well constitute an illegal solicitation of a foreign in-kind by the White House on behalf of Democrats’ midterm campaign efforts.’

He asked Pelosi and committee chairs to convene hearings, demand details of communications between American and Saudi officials, and identify who in the administration had asked for a delay.

Earlier the White House had hit back angrily at the claims, accusing the Saudis of trying to ‘spin or deflect.

John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, said the U.S. had been talking to the Saudis about ensuring that Russia remained isolated and was unable to benefit from oil prices.

‘We presented Saudi Arabia with analysis to show that there was no market basis to cut production targets, and that they could easily wait for the next OPEC meeting to see how things developed,’ he said.

The controversy erupted on Thursday morning with a statement issued by the Saudi Foreign Ministry defending its decision to cut production.

It said it had explained to Washington that delaying the Oct. 5 decision by a month ‘according to what has been suggested’ would have led to ‘negative economic consequences.’ 

The Kingdom also brushed off suggestions it sided with Russia by insisting it took a ‘principled position’ on the Ukraine war and said the OPEC decision was entirely based on economics, not politics.

‘The Government of the Kingdom clarified through its continuous consultation with the U.S. Administration that all economic analyses indicate that postponing the OPEC+ decision for a month, according to what has been suggested, would have had negative economic consequences,’ Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said

Last week OPEC+ announced it would cut oil production by two million barrels per day, in a major blow to the Biden administration that for months had asked them to instead increase production. Production cuts are already jacking gas prices back up – $3.91 is the average cost per gallon as of Thursday, up eight cents from when the cut was announced last week.

‘The country that benefits the most from this 2 million barrel cut is Russia,’ Kirby said in a call with reporters. 

The cut ‘allows [Putin] to continue to fund his war making machine and it certainly gave him, Mr Putin, a sense of comfort here,’ Kirby continued.

On Wednesday State Department spokesman Ned Price refused to confirm reports the Biden administration had begged the Saudis to wait and spare them the political consequences in next month’s election. 

‘I certainly can’t confirm that report. What I can confirm is that we conveyed a consistent message to the Saudis: energy supply needs to meet energy demand. We have made the point repeatedly that we have a multiplicity of interests with Saudi Arabia; energy is one of them,’ Price said. 

‘And in the context of those discussions regarding energy, we have had senior members of the administration travel to Saudi Arabia in recent months. This was not—this engagement did not take place solely in the context of October 2022 or September 2022,’ he added. 

But a Saudi statement released hours later implied that the U.S. did ask for at least a one-month delay. 

‘The Government of the Kingdom clarified through its continuous consultation with the U.S. Administration that all economic analyses indicate that postponing the OPEC+ decision for a month, according to what has been suggested, would have had negative economic consequences,’ bin Farhan Al Saud said. 

It was never likely that such a request would have been granted as experts believe that Saudi Crown-Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the cut at least in part to spite Biden and Democrats in the midterm elections. 

Biden himself had a controversial meeting with the crown prince, beginning with a  fist bump rather than a handshake, in July. 

Rep. Michael McCaul, lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that Biden should focus less on Saudi oil and more on production here at home.

‘High gas prices are a direct result of President Biden’s war on traditional U.S. energy production. Attempting to blame foreign countries every time gas prices rise is ridiculous. Voters won’t be fooled,’ he said in a statement. 

The Texas Republican said the White House’s latest quarrel with the Saudis would ‘alienate Saudi Arabia and harm U.S. national security.’ 

Victoria Coates, Donald Trump’s former special energy envoy to Saudi Arabia, told DailyMail.com that Biden’s ‘outsourcing’ of the energy secretary is a ‘national disgrace’.

Vandenberg Coalition Advisory Board member and Senior Fellow at the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation added that Biden has placed the American people ‘at the mercy of foreign wars, dictators and cartels’.

‘The proper response is not to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia, an ally of more than seventy years that is taking daily direct fire from Iranian proxies in Yemen. 

‘It is to embrace our potential as a major energy producing nation that can responsibly protect our citizens against shocks in international energy markets.’

After OPEC+ announced the decision, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the move a ‘mistake’ and accused the Saudis of ‘aligning with Russia.’ 

The foreign minister said such an accusation is intended to ‘distort the facts’ and claimed Saudi Arabia has taken a ‘principled position’ with respect to the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Saudi Arabia rejected assertions that it cut oil production to help Russian President Vladimir Putin 

‘The Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would first like to express its total rejection of these statements that are not based on facts, and which are based on portraying the OPEC+ decision out of its purely economic context,’ bin Farhan Al Saud said in a statement.

The foreign minister said that Saudi Arabia supports UN resolutions regarding the war and rejects ‘any infringement on the sovereignty of countries over their territories.’

‘The Kingdom stresses that while it strives to preserve the strength of its relations with all friendly countries, it affirms its rejection of any dictates, actions, or efforts to distort its noble objectives to protect the global economy from oil market volatility,’ bin Farhan Al Saud said. 

But Kirby said Washington presented Riyadh with analysis showing there was ‘no market basis’ for production cuts and ‘they could easily wait till the next OPEC meeting and see how things developed.’ 

‘Other OPEC nations communicated to us privately that they felt coerced to support Saudi’s direction.’ 

In a press call Kirby said Saudi Arabia had been ‘twisting arms’ to get other nations to agree to the cut, and ‘more than one’ had privately expressed concerns about doing so. 

Kirby said the U.S. would keep a close eye on the next OPEC meeting in December to see where the Saudis stand on Russian aggression. 

The production cut incensed lawmakers, who questioned why the U.S. had been selling arms to the Middle Eastern nation and ignoring human rights abuses and its role in the war in Yemen if it wasn’t going to get oil out of the deal. 

Biden claimed that Riyadh would face ‘consequences’ as aides announced the U.S. would be reevaluating its relationship with the Saudis. 

‘There´s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done with Russia,’ Biden said in a CNN interview aired Tuesday evening.

‘I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind,’ he added. ‘But there will be – there will be consequences.’

But the Saudi statement showed no ill will to the U.S. 

‘The Kingdom affirms that it views its relationship with the United States as a strategic one that serves the common interests of both countries. The Kingdom also stresses the importance of building on the solid pillars on which the Saudi-US relationship has stood over the past eight decades.’