How Trump’s ‘original oil guy’ boosted US-Israel ties and played down risks of Iran war

Summary

Fracking billionaire Harold Hamm is co-chair of a non-profit that has aggressively pushed for US energy dominance Tycoon Harold Hamm is one of the US’s most successful oilmen, the son of Oklahoma sharecroppers who hit it rich as a “wildcatter” and pioneered fracking techniques that drove the shale boom in 2008 that reversed declining US oil production. Donald Trump describes him as a “ long time ” friend and is said to have called him his “ original oil guy ” behind closed doors. The Continental Resources founder has also faced scrutiny from climate advocates and groups and some Democratic lawmakers over his influence on Trump and role in pushing him to go all in on planet-heating fossil fuels and gut climate rules. While Hamm was a key figure behind the lifting of the 40-year-old US crude oil export ban in 2015, a lucrative move for his company, in recent years advocates have mostly tracked Hamm’s influence at home. For instance, the 80-year-old helped organize the infamous Mar-a-Lago private fundraiser in 2024 at which Trump is reported to have asked oil executives for $1bn to help him get back into the White House. Hamm has donated more than $2m to Trump’s three presidential campaigns and an untold amount to help finance his new ballroom project. In a 2018 essay he co-wrote for the National Review, Hamm argued that “Iran perpetuates the virulent rhetoric that has fueled” antisemitism and that “Iran must pay for its constant attempts to destabilize the Middle East.” In the essay he also predicted the US would be “capable of providing enough oil to help stabilize the global market, no matter what happens in countries such as Iran” and that “[n]o longer is it the case that the flow of oil to the United States will be stifled if the Strait of Hormuz is shut down.” Central to Hamm’s foreign policy push has been the Council for a Secure America (CSA), a Reagan-era non-profit he relaunched in 2012 and of which he remains co-chair. Wright’s last known meeting with CSA occurred at the Argentinian embassy in Washington DC in May 2025. CSA did not dispute the details of this investigation or answer specific questions about its work. “CSA does not lobby for or against military actions,” its executive director, Jennifer Sutton, said in a statement provided by an outside communications firm. “CSA’s mission is to educate on the strategic importance of US energy security, including its role in strengthening domestic economic stability, reinforcing national security, and advancing peaceful geopolitical outcomes through economic prosperity.” Public-interest advocates who have tracked Hamm say he has played a major role in Trump’s energy policy dating back to his first campaign. “Harold Hamm very publicly emerged as the oil whisperer in Trump’s ear on all things energy policy,” Tyson Slocum, energy director at Public Citizen, told the Guardian. “Hamm speaks a language Trump understands and he shares his general worldview. And I think at the end of the day, that has helped move Trump to places and positions that – if Hamm wasn’t here – Trump wouldn’t have ended up in.” Among Hamm’s recent policy victories was the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision earlier this year to revoke the scientific finding on which nearly all climate rules rest – a move Hamm’s oil trade group, the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, pushed for even as other oil and gas power players expressed second thoughts about the repeal, which might affect their efforts to quash climate lawsuits.