Trump blindsides Rubio by reading note out loud in front of oil executives

Donald Trump appeared to blindside Marco Rubio as he read a note aloud from the Secretary of State during a televised sit-down with oil industry executives on Friday (9 January). According to the White House, executives from 17 companies were in attendance, including Chevron, the only company that has some current involvement in Venezuela, plus ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. The president told the executives that the United States government would guarantee security for companies that assist the administration’s effort to revive the Venezuelan petroleum sector after U.S. forces captured the country’s ex-president. During the meeting, Rubio passed Trump a handwritten note, before Trump said out loud, "Marco just gave me a note. Go back to Chevron, they want to discuss something. Go ahead, I'm going back to Chevron.”