Trump Tells Corpus Christi the U.S. Is Making an 'Absolute Fortune' From the Iran War, and Opens With a Million Barrels of Venezuelan Oil

President Donald Trump opened his rally at the Port of Corpus Christi on Tuesday by pointing to the ship outside. Facing criticism over high gas and diesel prices, Trump told the crowd that a newly arrived ship carrying 1 million barrels of oil from Venezuela would be refined at the port, USA Today reported in its live coverage. "The oil in the ship outside is being provided to the United States at zero cost to the American taxpayer," he said. "The Democrats will attack us. 'What kind of a deal is that?'" Trump said the oil resulted from the removal of Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro, who was seized by the U.S. military in January to face drug-trafficking charges, and he joked to oil industrialist Harold Hamm in the audience that Venezuela could become the 51st state: "This historic win gives us control over the massive part, the biggest part of the world's oil supply."

Trump then pushed back at criticism over prices at the pump by arguing the Iran war is enriching the United States. He said energy companies are getting more of their supply from the United States as it enforces a blockade on Iranian ports. "Your country is making an absolute fortune because of the situation in the Middle East," he said. "We're steering them all to Texas. We're steering them to Louisiana. Alaska is a big beneficiary." Anticipating the response, he added: "No, your price is going to come down, but your country's making a fortune, and that's really good, right?"

The rally's most personal moment reached back to Houston. Trump brought Alexis Nungaray to the stage - the mother of Jocelyn Nungaray, the 12-year-old who was sexually assaulted and killed outside Houston in 2024 - to highlight his deportation policy. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank President Trump for keeping my daughter Jocelyn Nungaray's name alive, keeping and sharing her story, and proving that her death was not just a number," she said. "Not far from here in Houston, Texas, a beautiful 12-year-old, Jocelyn Nungaray, walked to a convenience store in 2024 and she was kidnapped, tied up, assaulted and horribly, horrifically murdered," Trump said. Franklin Peña and Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel, both of Venezuela, have been charged with capital murder in her death; according to federal officials they were in the United States illegally, and they are awaiting separate trials. "As much as I wish I can bring Jocelyn back, what I can do is I can share her story," Trump said. "I can speak up for the voices who were ripped away, like Jocelyn's, and save future lives."

Trump also attacked the Democrat he is campaigning against in Texas. "If you're running in Texas and if you don't like guns, and if you don't like meat and if you don't like oil, I think you should be losing by a lot," he said of James Talarico, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported. "Where the hell did they get this guy?" Talarico has denied Trump's accusation of being a vegan, joking that he had been eating barbecue since before Republican nominee Ken Paxton's first indictment; he has said he supports the Second Amendment while advocating keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals, and supports an "all of the above" energy strategy including renewables. Trump speaks in Lubbock at 6 p.m., with Talarico's competing rally across town at 7 p.m.; Space City Daily will file on the verified remarks tonight.