Speaking to reporters at the White House Monday afternoon, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked to explain why the Biden administration plans to purchase oil from hostile foreign countries with abusive human rights records.
Jen Psaki defends the prospect of buying oil from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Iran. pic.twitter.com/WrOEtP46Wj
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 7, 2022
Psaki then justified the importation of Russian oil despite President Vladimir Putin's ongoing slaughter of civilians in Ukraine.
Jen Psaki's excuse for continuing to import Russian oil is that we don't import as much as Europe. pic.twitter.com/2MmxFqUi1y
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 7, 2022
Over the weekend, the State Department deployed a number of diplomats to Venezuela and is considering lifting sanctions on the country in order to purchase oil and gas. For years, Russia has helped Venezuela evade U.S. sanctions and remains a close ally to the country. The administration is also entertaining the idea of buying Iranian oil.
Meanwhile, the White House has no plans to restart the Keystone XL pipeline and continues to claim domestic producers aren't taking advantage of capacity.
Asked if Biden would ever "undo his executive order that stopped the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline," Psaki denies it would have any impact. Biden's attack on American energy continues! pic.twitter.com/ylmuuFkyxO
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 7, 2022
There 9000 fed land permits. But each individual drill requires a permit. It can take several drills to establish a well and BLM is not approving these permits within 30 days as law requires. The admin attitude towards O&G has made capital investors shy on funding drilling. https://t.co/N6yrdazWd9
— Joey Jones (@Johnny_Joey) March 5, 2022