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New Bloomberg Report: How One Oil Refinery Shows How Donald Trump and Slick Rick Jackson Do Business Together

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New Bloomberg Report: How One Oil Refinery Shows How Donald Trump and Slick Rick Jackson Do Business Together

A new report from Bloomberg reveals the business ties between Slick Rick Jackson and Donald Trump and his family – and how both are set to profit off of record-high gas prices. Jackson loaned $20 million to a Trump-backed oil refinery based in Texas that “Trump has bragged about supporting” and which major MAGA figures – including Donald Trump Jr. – are invested in. Even worse: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revealed last month that Jackson’s MAGA refinery will export American oil to India – at a time of record-high prices.

It’s just the latest example of the close ties between Jackson and Trump. Jackson has said he is running to be Trump’s “favorite governor” and that he disagrees with Trump on nothing. He’s called himself Trump with a southern tone and said he profited off of Trump’s cost-raising tariffs and budget law that cuts Medicaid. Trump campaigned twice for Jackson last week and is set to return to the state for another campaign event this weekend.

“While Georgians feel the pain at the pump, Rick Jackson and the Trump family are in business together to profit off a MAGA oil refinery that is set to send American oil to India,” said DGA spokesperson Kevin Donohoe. “Jackson isn’t just running to be Trump’s favorite governor – he’s a Trump family business partner and together they’re working to send American oil to India.”

Read more below:

Bloomberg: Georgia GOP Candidate Jackson Loans $20 Million to Texas Oil Refinery Trump Touted

  • Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson loaned $20 million dollars at 12% interest to a new oil refinery planned for the Texas coast that President Donald Trump has hailed as a major victory in his quest for “energy dominance.”
  • The healthcare billionaire’s loan and ownership stake in America First Refining’s plan to build the first new, major US refinery in half a century were disclosed in a federal tax court hearing earlier this year. Jackson’s ties to the project have become a flashpoint in the contest to decide who will lead the nation’s eighth-largest economy.
  • His Democratic opponent in the Nov. 3 election, Keisha Lance Bottoms, has unveiled ads slamming his role in the fossil-fuel installation as well as his ties to Trump. An Atlanta Journal Constitution poll ranks the race effectively a dead heat.
  • Trump has been a robust supporter of America First’s proposed fuel-making complex in the Texas city of Brownsville roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Elon Musk’s Starbase launch complex. The refinery will process solely Texas crude when operations begin toward the end of the decade.
  • The White House has been seeking to boost domestic fuel output as wars in Iran and Ukraine spike prices globally ahead of the midterm elections. Retail diesel has soared almost 70% since the US-Iran conflict kicked off in late February, touching an all-time high of more than $6.50 a gallon late last month.
  • The president is so bullish on America First’s development that the project is listed on the White House website as the single largest investment in US manufacturing and industry, pegging its value at $300 billion. Donald Trump Jr. has praised Jackson for stepping up to help finance the refinery.
  • Jackson’s role in financing the refinery emerged during testimony in his United States Tax Court suit against the Internal Revenue Service over deductions tied to low-budget movie productions. In response to a question about whether any loans made by his investment firm, Jackson Investment Group, have been particularly successful, he alluded to the proposed Brownsville refinery.
  • “One is that we’ve invested a loan of $20 million,” Jackson said in a trial transcript reviewed by Bloomberg News. “It was $10 million about three years ago and another $10 million last year. They’re paying 12% interest, 1% a month interest and it’s been working.”
  • “It is the first oil refinery in the United States in the last 50 years that’s going to turn on,” he added. At the time, Jackson said he owned 15% of closely held America First and estimated the company would be valued at $2 billion upon going public, giving him a $300 million stake.
  • The Jackson campaign and America First declined via spokespeople to comment for this story. The White House didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry.
  • Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor who went on the become a White House adviser during the Biden administration, is running ads accusing Jackson of getting rich off of high pump prices.
  • The ads appeared to key in on the involvement of Indian energy titan Reliance Industries Ltd., which has a 20-year deal to buy fuel from the plant.
  • “Rick Jackson also invests in petroleum companies,” Bottoms said in a Sept. 30 media briefing aired by CSPAN. “He is sending diesel fuel to India as we speak. We are watching our farmers across this state, our truck drivers across this state struggle to be able to afford to put gas, to put diesel fuel in their trucks, to get their farm equipment up and running.”

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