Since Donald Trump's return to the presidency, his family business is experiencing a real financial boom. In the past month, companies associated with his name have received at least $2 billion in revenue. Among the sources of profit are real estate projects, cryptocurrency, and a planned opening of an elite private club in Washington with a membership fee of $500,000, writes The New York Times.
Meanwhile, Trump is simultaneously the commander-in-chief and a business partner of foreign governments in Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman, creating an obvious ethical issue. The White House claims that his sons manage the companies, so from a legal standpoint, everything is lawful.
However, as NYT believes, this situation puts Trump in a position to be tempted to repay his business partners with political decisions aimed at helping them, which is precisely how the law defines corruption.
For example, the family cryptocurrency $TRUMP, managed by Donald Trump Jr., has no intrinsic value other than what people pay for it, and every time someone buys a coin (currently priced at about $13), the family receives their share. Recently, Trump held a contest: 220 top buyers are invited to dinner with him next week at his golf club in Virginia. The top 25 buyers will also receive a tour of the White House. Contest winners spent at least $174 million on purchasing $TRUMP coins.
The UAE also invested $2 billion in the new Trump family currency company World Liberty Financial. The company, led by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., will earn tens of millions of dollars a year from investments.
Qatar contributed to financing a project to build a beach golf club and luxury villas under the Trump brand worth $5.5 billion. The country also plans to gift the president a Boeing 747 worth $400 million so he can use it as a temporary Air Force One. According to Trump, after his presidency, the plane will belong to his presidential library.
A real estate sales firm from Saudi Arabia (with close ties to the country's government) invested $1 billion in the Trump International Hotel and Tower project in Dubai. The same company plans to build other new hotels, golf courses, and luxury Trump towers in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
During the Balkan wars, NATO bombed the Ministry of Defense of Yugoslavia in Belgrade. Now the president of Serbia is leasing this land to Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who will build a Trump hotel on the site. Kushner's private investment company, primarily funded by Middle Eastern sovereign funds, will help pay for the $1 billion project.
Additionally, as NYT writes, Donald Trump Jr. and other investors announced that they will open a private social club Executive Branch in Georgetown this summer. Its members will include lobbyists, tech industry representatives, and White House officials, with a membership fee of $500,000.
Another example is LIV Golf, a new golf league supported by Saudi Arabia, which held a professional tournament last month at Trump National Doral in Florida. The president arrived by military helicopter to kick off the tournament. The league is led by the head of Saudi Arabia's sovereign fund. He paid the Trump family an undisclosed fee for hosting the LIV tournament, the publication reports.
The growing list of Trump family's commercial projects linked to foreign governments and large financial investments raises concerns, given the transparency and potential influence on political decisions. However, as the publication writes, «Republicans on Capitol Hill are unlikely to challenge him».
Photo: The New York Times