Trump's energy deals are about to face a wave of investigations by Democrats

President Donald Trump listens to a reporter's question in the Oval Office at the White House, in Washington, Sept. 28, 2026.

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

President Donald Trump is expected to face a wave of investigations when Democrats take control of Congress in January. His sweeping dealmaking in the energy sector is likely to become a central focus.

Democrats have pressed the White House for months on the legality of its intervention in Venezuela's oil sector and its cancellation of renewable energy projects funded by the Biden adminstration. They have raised conflict of interest concerns over numerous deals in the minerals sector.

But, until now, the opposition party could do little more than send strongly worded letters to administration officials. When the next Congress convenes in January, the Democrats will wield the subpoena power that comes with committee control, giving them the authority to compel testimony and the disclosure of documents.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee in the next Congress intends to pursue an aggressive oversight agenda to root out corruption, Rep. Frank Pallone, the New Jersey Democrat who will likely chair the panel, said in a statement.

With comfortable majorities in the House and Senate, Democrats will likely pass a war powers resolution that demands an end to the war, which has hiked fuel prices in the U.S. and around the world.

1. Iran war

Crude oil prices sold off sharply Wednesday as the market expected the election defeat to push Trump to cut a deal with Iran. Vice President JD Vance blamed the Republican loss directly on the war, raising questions about whether there is support inside the administration to continue the conflict.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who will likely take over the House Speaker's gavel in January, said Wednesday that Democrats will "end this reckless and costly war of choice that has skyrocketed gas prices all across the country."

The new Congress will try to rein in the administration by passing legislation to stop the conflict, said Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chairman of the Democratic caucus. Jeffries has said Democrats will pass a war powers resolution, though Trump will almost certainly wield his veto. It is unclear whether Democrats will try to restrict funding for the war as well.

Nevertheless, tumbling crude prices could push gasoline below $4 per gallon in the next week and diesel under $6 by Thanksgiving, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, in social media post Wednesday.

But the odds still favor military escalation in the Middle East, warned Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy and a former energy advisor to President George W. Bush.

"Iran is hardened in its uncompromising position," McNally said. "Trump, having now paid a huge price for his determination to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, is unlikely to let go of this legacy goal and walk away."

2. Venezuela's oil

Democratic lawmakers have pressed the Trump administration for months to provide Congress with an accounting of how Venezuela's oil revenues have been spent — to no avail.

Washington seized control of Venezuela's oil exports in January after ousting former President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid. The Pentagon took a stake in an obscure oil company, North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), that is supposed to develop Venezuelan oil reserves. The deal supposedly gives the U.S. control over 65 billion barrels of oil.

Democratic House members warned the oil industry in January that entering into an agreement with the U.S. on Venezuelan oil could expose the industry to "legal risk, including civil liability from creditors who hold nearly $200 billion worth of debt to Venezuela and their various state-owned entities."

Democratic senators subsequently sent a letter in September to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Energy Secretary Chris Wright questioning the legal basis for the U.S. government's deal with NABEP.

Energy analysts warned when the NABEP deal was announced in August that it might not survive if Democrats take power in Washington.

3. Deals for critical minerals

Democrats have also raised conflict of interest concerns over the Trump administration's series of deals in the critical minerals sector.

The White House has justified the deals, often involving government equity stakes in private companies, as necessary to support a segment of the mining industry that's critical to U.S. national security and that has been undercut by competitors in China.

But Democratic senators have pointed to the involvement of Cantor Fitzgerald in a number of those deals as cause for concern. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick ran Cantor before joining the Trump administration. He personally divested from Cantor after joining the cabinet and turned over control to his sons.

The Democratic senators demanded in a July letter that the federal government preserve any records related to deals involving 14 companies.

For his part, the Commerce Secretary dismissed the allegations. "If the Democrats send me letters, I will respond to the letters but they don't matter, since when you do nothing wrong, you don't worry about it and you don't care," Lutnick told CNBC in a September interview.

"You just answer their silly questions and you move on," Lutnick said. "This is a waste of time trying to create something that doesn't exist."

Others are less cavalier. USA Rare Earth, one of the companies named in the senators' letter, has warned investors that its deal making the U.S. government one of its stockholders has few precedents.

As a consequence, the company could be subject to litigation, political scrutiny and a change in federal priorities, it said in a March filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

4. Cancelled energy projects

The Trump administration has favored fossil fuels and waged a relentless campaign against renewable energy, particularly wind power, since taking office.

Democrats are unlikely to restore tax credits phased out by Trump's big tax bill due to the president's veto power. But they are certain to press the administration on the nearly $8 billion of energy projects it has cancelled in states that supported Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has told Congress that the projects were not cancelled based on political considerations. Several House Democrats have accused Wright of giving false testimony, an allegation the Energy Department has denied.

Democrats are also scrutinizing the administration's efforts to kill offshore wind power in the U.S. The Interior Department has tried to buy out leases for several such projects, for example, paying TotalEnergies nearly $1 billion to cancel an offshore wind project and stop investing in any similar projects in the U.S. in the future. Total agreed to invest in natural gas instead.

Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrats on the natural resources and judiciary committees, respectively, called the TotalEnergies deal unlawful and launched an investigation in April.