{"id":2569338,"date":"2026-02-12T12:51:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-foe-in-line-to-profit-from-russia-sanctions\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:53:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:53:19","slug":"trump-foe-in-line-to-profit-from-russia-sanctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-foe-in-line-to-profit-from-russia-sanctions\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump foe in line to profit from Russia sanctions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-foe-in-line-to-profit-from-russia-sanctions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2569338&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Washington Secrets reports that Donald Trump\u2019s sanctions on Russian oil could pave the way for a major profit for David Rubenstein\u2019s Carlyle Group,as Lukoil moves too sell it&#8217;s overseas assets. The story says Carlyle executives and Lukoil are expected to discuss a preliminary deal, with final terms subject to U.S.Treasury approval. It highlights a potential clash between the Trump administration and Rubenstein, who has been linked to DC elite circles and has shifted in recent years toward \u201cwoke\u201d initiatives, while also noting his past closeness to biden, who awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The piece frames the deal as politically sensitive,given Rubenstein\u2019s history and public comments,and suggests it could force questions about his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trans-people-exist-oreo-cookie-virtue-signals-while-parent-company-faces-child-slave-labor-lawsuit\/\" title=\"\u2018Trans People Exist\u2019: Oreo Cookie Virtue Signals While Parent Company Faces Child Slave Labor Lawsuit\">political stance<\/a> as the deal progresses.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump foe in line to profit from Russia sanctions<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2492001\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><strong><em>Welcome to the latest installment of Washington Secrets, your user guide to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ted-olson-1940-2024-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Ted Olson, 1940-2024 - Washington Examiner\">capital&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s politics. Today, Secrets takes an exclusive look at one of the likely big winners of Donald Trump&rsquo;s Russian oil sanctions<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p id=\"h-\">President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>&rsquo;s sanctions on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia\/\">Russian<\/a> oil will claim their biggest scalp when Lukoil, one of the world&rsquo;s biggest energy companies, sells its overseas assets.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4455758\/karoline-leavitt-maternity-leave-replacement\/\">Karoline Leavitt&#8217;s maternity cover is revealed<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4453893\/nigel-farage-donald-trump-friends-disagree-friends\/\">Nigel Farage on Donald Trump: Friends can disagree with friends<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4452301\/walmart-blue-sky-thinking-undoing-will-lewis-washington-post\/\">How Walmarts and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >blue-sky thinking<\/a> were the making and then the undoing of Will Lewis at the Washington Post<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Just one problem: Does the president know that the $22 billion deal will be something of a coup for David Rubenstein, champion of the liberal elite? His Carlyle Group is now on course to secure billions of dollars in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/news\/press-releases\/sb0290\">Lukoil assets<\/a>, turning it into a major player in the energy sector.<\/p>\n<p>Trump and Rubenstein once regarded each other as friends, but the private equity billionaire has emerged in recent years as a key backer of the sort of &ldquo;woke&rdquo; initiatives that infuriate MAGAworld.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Trump unceremoniously dumped Rubenstein as chairman of the Kennedy Center, along with the rest of the board who &ldquo;do not share our vision for a golden age in arts and culture.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/washington-secrets\/4455758\/karoline-leavitt-maternity-leave-replacement\/\"><strong>KAROLINE LEAVITT&rsquo;S MATERNITY COVER IS REVEALED<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He hates Rubenstein,&rdquo; a former White House official said. &ldquo;That guy led the anti-Trump faction of the D.C. elite. The president has spent the past year undoing the mess he left at the Kennedy Center. I wouldn&rsquo;t want to be the one telling him about this deal.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration imposed sanctions on two of Russia&rsquo;s biggest oil companies in October to choke the flow of cash to Russian President Vladimir Putin&rsquo;s Ukrainian war effort. Lukoil quickly announced it would sell its foreign assets.<\/p>\n<p>Secrets understands that Lukoil and Carlyle Group executives are due to meet today, after announcing a preliminary deal last month.<\/p>\n<p>It puts Rubenstein on a collision course with the Trump administration. The U.S. Treasury will have to sign off on any final agreement, which means he may have awkward questions to answer about his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alec-baldwin-blows-up-on-anti-israel-protestor\/\" title=\"Alec Baldwin Blows Up On Anti-Israel Protestor\">past political comments<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Rubenstein dedicated his 2020 book, <em>How to Lead: Wisdom from the World&rsquo;s Greatest CEOs, Founders, and Game Changers<\/em>, to people who resisted Trump&rsquo;s first presidency.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;In the end, I dedicate the book to the public servants who made it possible for us to preserve our democracy [under attack from Trump],&rdquo; he told the <em>Guardian<\/em>. &ldquo;I do think that, for example, had all the judges gone the wrong way, we&rsquo;d be in a different situation today.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Allies of the president accuse Rubenstein&rsquo;s companies of promoting DEI initiatives. They also point to his work on historic monuments.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Rubenstein bankrolled work at Thomas Jefferson&rsquo;s Monticello estate designed to &ldquo;finish the restoration of the landscape of slavery.&rdquo; Signage added the word &ldquo;enslaved&rdquo; to job descriptions for valets and cooks, among others.<\/p>\n<p>And he was particularly close to former President Joe Biden, who stays on his Nantucket estate each Thanksgiving. Biden repaid the favor by awarding Rubenstein the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, for his support of cultural institutions and monuments.<\/p>\n<p>The Carlyle Group and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, who you can reach at&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/l\/email-protection\" class=\"__cf_email__\" data-cfemail=\"bfccdadccddacbccffc8deccd7d6d1d8cbd0d1dac7ded2d6d1dacd91dcd0d2\">[email&nbsp;protected]<\/a>&nbsp;with your comments, story tips, and suggestions.<\/em>&nbsp;<em>If a friend sent you this and you&rsquo;d like to sign up,&nbsp;<\/em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/click1.trk-washingtonexaminer.com\/xprvgynrhhctscghtpnrptnqlrtypjmjlkrlcnpvhgpdcr_jtjrvfbrrsmwbqmnsbmvsv.html?a=Washington+Secrets+Lara+Trump&amp;b=01%2F21%2F2026&amp;c=WEX_Washington+Secrets&amp;d=25812206&amp;e=da31c45955c9411a6c40ecd0e967fa8def1f0fc08362faaa0dee09386ff5c41b\"><em>click here<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8211; Paraphrase:<br \/>\nTrump\u2019s Russian oil sanctions could yield a major win for Carlyle Group founder David Rubenstein, as Lukoil moves to divest its overseas assets, potentially unlocking billions for his firm. Any final agreement would need Treasury approval, which could force Rubenstein to answer questions about his past political comments. Critics say Rubenstein\u2019s support for DEI initiatives and his longtime ties to Biden complicate his relationship with the White House. Lukoil has said it will sell foreign assets, and Carlyle and Lukoil executives are expected to meet after a preliminary deal, though the White House did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; 55-character headline:<br \/>\nTrump foe in line to profit from Russia sanctions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4136,"featured_media":2569339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25004699411065.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[24522,5894,8881,73685,3634],"class_list":["post-2569338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-foe","tag-politics","tag-profits","tag-russiasanctions","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP25004699411065.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2569338"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2569342,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2569338\/revisions\/2569342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2569339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2569338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2569338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2569338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}