President Donald Trump said on Monday the U.S. has collected more than $13 billion from the sale of Venezuelan crude oil since the January ousting of former President Nicolás Maduro, according to CNBC. Trump was responding to a question about a Financial Times report estimating the amount of money his administration had collected from the sales.

Trump Claims Funds Used to ‘Run the Country’

“$13 billion from Venezuela? I think even more than that,” Trump said aboard Air Force One as he traveled to Michigan. “We’ve paid for that war many times over.” Trump claimed the money is being used to “run the country” and suggested that some of the funds may have gone toward paying for the January 3 military operation in which the U.S. abducted Maduro and killed dozens, according to Truthout.

Trump also hinted that a similar strategy could be used against Iran. “That’ll happen with Iran also,” he said. When asked again where the money was going, he repeated that it was being used to “run the country” and said it could go to the U.S. military with Congressional approval.

Oil Sales and Financial Oversight

Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Semafor in April that the U.S. had sold around 150 million barrels of Venezuelan oil since January. According to Congress, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in June that the oil sales are audited by KPMG, and the money is held in a Citibank account. “It’s an ongoing audit, so it’s not a once-a-year audit, it’s on every expenditure, every single disbursement is audited by KPMG,” Rubio said.

The Trump administration initially deposited $500 million in sales to an account in Qatar that was controlled by the U.S. government, Wright said in February. However, the The New Republic reported that after six months and two devastating earthquakes in Venezuela, there was little evidence the money had been used to support the economy or aid the population.

International Reaction and Controversy

The U.S. has largely left the Venezuelan government in place after ousting Maduro, and Washington has been closely cooperating with interim President Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice president under Maduro, according to CNBC. Democrats in Congress have pressed the administration to disclose how much money it has collected from the sales, how the funds are spent, and how the program is monitored.

Trump’s actions have drawn comparisons to past U.S. interventions in Latin America and have been criticized as a form of “retro imperialism,” according to SZ.de. Some of his supporters, including J. D. Vance, have defended the operation as a necessary exercise of America Firstism, despite Trump’s previous anti-war rhetoric.

According to CEONEWS, the January 3 operation marked the first time in modern history that a U.S. president arrested a sitting head of state of a sovereign nation through a military operation. The U.S. declared it would operate Venezuela until a proper transfer of power takes place.