Congressman requests Pelosi open probe into Biden reportedly asking Saudis to delay oil cuts 1 month

Rep. Tiffany pointed to an official statement from the Saudi government suggesting that the Biden administration had pressured them to put off planned oil production cuts until after 2022 election

By Nicholas Ballasy

Published: October 14, 2022 1:14pm

Updated: October 14, 2022 2:18pm

Wisconsin Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany requested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi open a "formal investigation" into the Biden administration reportedly putting pressure on Saudi Arabia to delay a planned oil production cut until after the 2022 midterm election, where control of the House and Senate is up for grabs.

Tiffany pointed to an official statement from the Saudi government suggesting that the Biden administration is pressuring them to postpone the planned oil production cuts by one month.

Tiffany argued that the Biden administration's action's “may very well constitute an illegal solicitation of a foreign in-kind contribution by the White House on behalf of Democrats’ midterm campaign efforts" if the latest reports are accurate.

“These are very serious allegations, and if the Biden administration did, in fact, attempt to coordinate with a foreign government to influence the U.S. election, that’s something the American people deserve to know,” Tiffany said in a statement released by his office on Thursday. “Speaker Pelosi and Congress have a responsibility to get to the bottom of these deeply troubling reports as soon as possible.”

In the letter to Pelosi, Tiffany requested that the "chairs of relevant House committees fulfill their constitutional duties" and "convene hearings to determine if such calls took place and what specific requests were made regarding Saudi or OPEC+ oil production by Biden administration officials."

Tiffany also called on the White House to "release the transcript of any calls between President Biden, Vice President Harris, any cabinet official or other senior administration official and representatives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding oil production that took place in the last 30 days."

Tiffany said the House should work to "identify any Biden administration official who may have asked any Saudi government official to delay any oil production cut until November or later."