Now that President Trump is back in office, his family is profiting from his brand: At least $2 billion has flowed to Trump companies in just the last month. The ventures include real estate, a cryptocurrency and a private club slated to open in Washington with a $500,000 membership fee. Now, Qatar may give him a new presidential airplane.
The ethical mess is obvious. Trump is both the commander in chief and a business partner of foreign governments in Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The White House says his sons run his companies, so there’s no conflict. Legally, that’s true.
But Trump is still getting rich (or richer) from all of it. And that leaves incentives for the president to pay back his business partners with policy decisions designed to help them, which is how the law defines corruption. Today’s newsletter is a tour of the recent deals.
Crypto
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$TRUMP is the family’s cryptocurrency, owned by the president and run by Donald Trump Jr. It has no inherent value beside what people will pay for it; the family describes it as a collectible — like a baseball card. But every time someone purchases a coin (currently worth about $13), the family gets a share. Recently, the president offered rewards. The top 220 buyers are invited to dinner with him next week at his Virginia golf club. The top 25 buyers also get a White House tour. The winners of the contest spent at least $174 million to buy $TRUMP coins.
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Through an investment firm, the United Arab Emirates put $2 billion into the Trump family’s new cryptocurrency outfit, World Liberty Financial. The company, whose leaders include Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., will make tens of millions of dollars per year from the investment.
Real estate
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Qatar chipped in to help finance a Trump-branded beachside golf and luxury villa project in the country worth $5.5 billion. (We don’t know how much it contributed.) The family will earn millions in licensing and management fees.
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A real estate firm in 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 is planning to build other new Trump hotels, golf courses and luxury towers in Saudi Arabia and Oman. These, too, are branding deals that will pay the Trumps millions of dollars for their name.
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During the Balkan wars, NATO bombed Yugoslavia’s Defense Ministry in Belgrade. Now Serbia’s president is leasing the land to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who will erect a Trump hotel on the site. Kushner’s private equity company — funded mostly by Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds — will help cover the $1 billion project.
Other deals
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Plane: Qatar is planning to give a $400 million Boeing 747 aircraft to the president so he can use it as a temporary Air Force One. His presidential library will own the plane after his presidency, Trump says.
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Members’ club: Donald Trump Jr. and other investors say they will open the Executive Branch, a private social club, in Georgetown this summer. Its members will include lobbyists, tech industry bigwigs and a sprinkling of White House officials, such as David Sacks, who is Trump’s crypto czar. The cost to join: $500,000.
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Golf: LIV Golf, the new Saudi-backed golf league, hosted a professional tournament at Trump National Doral in Florida last month. The president arrived on a military helicopter to kick it off. The league is run by the head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. It paid the Trump family an undisclosed fee to host the LIV tournament. The event also drove thousands of fans to the hotel resort, selling out its rooms and restaurants.
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Hotels: During Trump’s first term, dignitaries stayed at Trump properties and Republicans put on events there. These payments collectively were in the tens of millions of dollars. Payments like these have resumed. Groups like the Republican National Committee have put on events at the Doral resort and the Mar-a-Lago club, for instance.
For more: Trump is pushing ethics guardrails. Republicans on Capitol Hill seem unlikely to challenge him.
Below, Michael Shear, a Times correspondent, explores Trump’s relationship with Saudi Arabia.
Trump is visiting the Gulf and meeting with leaders across the region. It has so far been a friendly trip: Trump has shown a chumminess, even infatuation, with his counterparts in the Saudi royal family. Here are three reasons Trump seems to love Saudi Arabia:
Gold, everywhere: I was in the group of reporters who traveled with Trump on his first trip to Saudi Arabia as president in 2017. The opulence was overwhelming. But it was clear that Trump, who has a famous preference for gilded architecture, loved it.
This trip appears to be the same. As my colleagues wrote: “With its giant crystal chandeliers, polished marble, plush carpets and prominently displayed portraits of King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Royal Court had the feel of a Mar-a-Lago East.”
Business deals: Trump’s trip to Riyadh is, essentially, one big boardroom meeting. The president has also proved over the years that he appreciates — maybe even envies — strong leaders who have few constraints on the exercise of power. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, certainly qualifies.
Money: Finally, there is Saudi’s vast wealth, which comes largely from oil. In his speech yesterday, Trump bragged about the American economy, calling it the “hottest country” in the world. Then he stopped himself, looked at the crown prince, and laughed. “With the exception of your country,” he said. “You’re hotter. At least as long as I’m up here, you’re hotter.”
THE MORNING QUIZ
You’ll see this game in the newsletter from time to time. The questions will come from recent editions of The Morning. Click your answer to see if you’re right. (The link has no paywall.)
Oliver Widger, a 29-year-old Oregonian who posts on TikTok, quit his job and cashed in his 401(k) so he and his cat could:
OPINIONS
A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, defends a free and independent press.
Three Yale professors who study fascism are fleeing the U.S. In this video, they explain why.
Here’s a column by Jamelle Bouie on Trump and the rule of law.
Guinea-Bissau: This small West African country has virtually no art galleries, no art schools and little government funding for the arts. It just staged its first art biennale.
Your pick: The Morning’s most-clicked link yesterday was about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s swim in a contaminated Washington creek.
Trending online yesterday: Cassie, the singer who is an important witness in Sean Combs’s federal trial, gave her opening testimony. Read takeaways.
Lives Lived: As president of Uruguay, José Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla fighter, was known for his brash charisma and his modest way of life. Mujica died at 89.
SPORTS
M.L.B.: The league removed Pete Rose from the sport’s permanently ineligible list. Many people welcomed the decision.
In the last three years, Joe McCallen has traveled about 100,000 miles in a tricked-out Honda. McCallen, 63, works for Google Street View, and his travels have allowed him to see the northern lights and to strike up deep conversations with strangers in rural diners. He recently let a Times reporter join him for a ride.
More on culture
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One man spent more than $12,000 to be Gene Simmons’s roadie. The Times followed his (very expensive) day of work.
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This week, Dwyane Wade will guest edit Players, a new magazine dedicated to athletes and style. “You can’t think about fashion without thinking of athletes now,” he told The Times.
