Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration recently quietly closed a criminal investigation into a Venezuelan businessman as he now hopes to do business with him.

According to CNN, businessman Alejandro Betancourt has been the subject of a years-long probe regarding allegations that he embezzled billions of dollars from Venezuela's state-owned oil company, known as PDVSA.

But the case was recently closed at the direction of the office of then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was officially nominated to the role last month.

The move comes after Trump abruptly sent military forces into Venezuela earlier this year to remove the country's leader Nicolas Maduro and bring him to the US to face criminal charges.

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Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio's are now hoping to enlist Betancourt to engineer a new oil deal between Venezuela and the US.

It is one of many instances in his second term in office in which President Trump has used his executive authority to pardon or step in to block legal efforts against allies of his.

Trump is also desperately trying to boost support for Republicans ahead of the November midterms, in which the party will fight to maintain its majority hold on the House and Senate. Losing either could make the second half of Trump's second term very difficult.

The president's approval ratings have reached record lows, with most Americans being upset about affordability issues and high gas prices caused by his decision to go to war with Iran.