Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., criticized the president on Tuesday Donald Trump’s administration over how it is using oil seized from Venezuela earlier this month, saying the president can’t sell the oil for “his own piggy bank.”

Massie said the oil was “stolen” and that Trump cannot “legally create a second Treasury overseas for his own piggy bank.”

“Selling stolen oil and putting billions of dollars in a Qatari bank to spend without congressional approval is unconstitutional,” Massie wrote to X. “Only Congress can appropriate money.”

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Rep. Thomas Massie said the oil was “stolen” and “only Congress can appropriate money.” (Getty Images/Getty Images)

“The president cannot legally create a second Treasury abroad for his own piggy bank,” he continued.

The congressman added: “Wake up Congress.”

This comes after the US operation to attack Venezuela and arrest its president, Nicolás Maduro, and the Trump administration’s subsequent seizure of the country’s oil tankers.

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Venezuela is one of the largest oil producers and its oil industry has become a focus of the Trump administration.

Trump has said oil sales in the US would begin immediately, with an initial shipment of 30 to 50 million barrels to sell to the US government.

Rep. Thomas Massie said Congress needs to “wake up.” (Getty Images/Getty Images)

“This oil will be sold at its market price, and this money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure that it is used for the benefit of the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Trump previously wrote on Truth Social.

Administration officials announced last week that the government completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil, generating about $500 million in proceeds, which are held in bank accounts controlled by the US government, including one located in Qatar.

The Department of Energy has suggested that US sales of Venezuelan oil could continue “indefinitely”. The department also said it was working with “the world’s leading commodity traders and key banks to execute and provide financial support for these sales of crude oil and crude products.”

Massie has clashed repeatedly with Trump in recent months over the congressman’s opposition to large-scale federal spending, military action without congressional authorization and the administration’s handling of foreign policy.

Rep. Thomas Massie said President Donald Trump can’t sell Venezuelan oil for “his own piggy bank.” (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/Getty Images)

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Trump is endorsing Massie’s primary challenger after calling for a challenger to step up, even though the Kentucky Republican easily won the Primary GOP for his district in 2024, securing 76% of the vote before running unopposed in the general election.

“President Trump captured the Venezuelan narco-terrorist leader who poisoned the American people with deadly drugs and sent thousands of vicious illegal aliens into our country,” White House spokesman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to The Hill. “Thomas Massie crying over this is just one more reason why the great people of Kentucky have completely lost faith in him.”