Follow-up reporting is spotlighting Big Oil lobbyist and DC insider Michael Whatley having “a financial stake” in the Trump administration’s actions in Venezuela, which he “cheer[ed] on” and then raked in up to $63,000 in a single weekend from his stocks in Big Oil companies.

Whatley, who represented Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips for years as a lobbyist, holds “up to a million plus dollars” in investments in the major oil companies. 

Whatley is pushing for policies that personally enrich himself, showing North Carolinians that he will look out for his own financial interests over theirs in the U.S. Senate. This follows POLITICO’s reporting on Whatley’s windfall last week.

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Raw Story: Busted: Republican cashed in on Trump’s Venezuela raid while publicly cheering it on

Matthew Chapman | February 5, 2026

• North Carolina Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley was a hugely vocal supporter of President Donald Trump’s operation to capture Venezuelan authoritarian Nicolas Maduro — but it turns out he may have had a financial stake in it, Politico reported on Thursday.

• Whatley, an ex-energy lobbyist and Republican National Committee leader, proclaimed that the operation was an “important step” and he was “proud” of the troops who executed it. 

• “What Whatley didn’t mention is that he and his family have up to a million plus dollars invested in three major oil companies that saw spikes in their shares after President Donald Trump said he would increase oil production in Venezuela, according to his personal financial disclosure filed in late November,” said the report.

• “Whatley … and his immediate family own between $321,000 and $890,000 in stock in Chevron, which is the only American oil major operating in Venezuela. The company is their largest individual holding, according to a PI analysis of the disclosure,” the report continued. Additionally, the family owns “between $83,000 and $245,000 in stock in Exxon Mobil and between $3,000 and $45,000 in shares of ConocoPhillips” — all of which saw their stock prices go up sharply in response to the Venezuela operation.

POLITICO Influence: Whatley’s windfall

Daniel Lippman | February 5, 2026

• What Whatley didn’t mention is that he and his family have up to a million plus dollars invested in three major oil companies that saw spikes in their shares after President Donald Trump said he would increase oil production in Venezuela, according to his personal financial disclosure filed in late November.

• Whatley, a former energy lobbyist, and his immediate family own between $321,000 and $890,000 in stock in Chevron, which is the only American oil major operating in Venezuela. The company is their largest individual holding, according to a PI analysis of the disclosure. They also own between $83,000 and $245,000 in stock in Exxon Mobil and between $3,000 and $45,000 in shares of ConocoPhillips.

• After the Venezuela operation, those companies’ share prices jumped after Trump pledged to revive the nation’s energy sector. Between Jan. 2 and when the market opened on the Monday morning after the raid, Chevron stock increased 6.3 percent, Exxon Mobil went up 2.1 percent and ConocoPhillips rose 4.6 percent. The increase in the shares would have boosted the value of the Whatley family’s investment in those companies between $22,000 and $63,000, according to PI calculations. All three companies’ share prices have continued to go up significantly since.

• Whatley, a onetime staffer for the Energy Department and for then-Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), is a former longtime oil lobbyist who helped launch and lead the Consumer Energy Alliance, an oil-backed advocacy group. Chevron, Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips have been affiliated with the group for more than 15 years

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