Bacon: Trump oil deal with Putin ‘morally wrong’

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) slammed President Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, a move that comes amid energy cost increases in the U.S.

“70% of Americans support Ukraine. Propping up Putin’s war economy is morally wrong as he uses that money to bomb cities,” Bacon said in a post on the social platform X on Friday.

“The President’s policies towards Russia and Ukraine are failures. We need moral clarity not moral ambiguity,” he added.

On Friday, Trump announced that Russia will provide the U.S. and global market with diesel. The move comes only a few weeks out from the midterm elections, in which high energy prices are a central issue.

The president said Moscow will “immediately” give 300,000 tons of diesel to the U.S. and the global marketplace.

“I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social.

Trump’s deal comes amid fuel prices rising during the U.S. war against Iran, in which the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the oil industry, has been closed.

According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of diesel in the U.S. on Monday morning was about $6.27, up from about $3.67 last year at the same time.

Bacon has a history of going after the White House over the Russia-Ukraine war, providing similar remarks in November of last year about being wary of Russia.

“I would like to see the president be a stronger advocate for the free country, the sovereign country of Ukraine that wants to be a democracy, wants to be allied with us, and have a little more clear-eyed view of who [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is, that Putin is the invader. He’s the dictator. He has murdered all of his opponents,” Bacon said in an interview on ABC News’s “This Week” at the time.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.