President Donald Trump has done little to mitigate concerns over his close relationship with ExxonMobil. The appointment of Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson to secretary of state raised red flags, but an effusive statement from the White House about the oil company's new business endeavor is, to critics, only highlighting those connections.
Monday, Exxon Mobil released a statement declaring a $20 billion investment to "expand manufacturing in U.S. Gulf region," which they claim will generate over 45,000 "high-paying jobs." The White House followed shortly after with their own statement praising the company for its "ambitious" program.
But that's not all it did. The White House press release copied an entire paragraph from ExxonMobil, almost word for word (save spelling out United States versus U.S. in one line and removing "expansion" in another.)
Here's what the White House released:
Exxon Mobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the United States Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company’s Growing the Gulf program consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022.
Here's what ExxonMobil had on their site:
ExxonMobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the U.S. Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. The company’s Growing the Gulf expansion program, consists of 11 major chemical, refining, lubricant and liquefied natural gas projects at proposed new and existing facilities along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Investments began in 2013 and are expected to continue through at least 2022.
That's not all. Trump also sent out a slew of congratulatory tweets and an accompanying video, in which he called Exxon "the great company" and linked his administration fervently to this announcement. "This is something that was done to a large extent because of our policies and the policies of this new administration having to do with regulation and so many other things," he said.
Trump finished by calling ExxonMobil a "special company, special people" in a series of Tweets that lasted late until the night.
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