A New York Times investigation published Monday has brought renewed attention to the Trump family’s global business dealings, revealing a “rush to cash in” on deals spanning the globe.
According to the report, family members of the president have capitalized on their international trips to make millions in business transactions, without clear oversight.
“Just in the past 10 days, Donald Trump Jr. made stops in Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria,” the Times reported, shedding light on his whirlwind business tour.
Meanwhile, his brother, Eric Trump, has been promoting the family’s ventures across the Middle East, making stops in Qatar, the UAE, and several other countries to advance their real estate and cryptocurrency interests.
The Times describes their rapid international expansion as a “rush to cash in that involves billions of dollars with few precedents in American history.”
“There’s nothing like it,” said Douglas Brinkley, a historian at Rice University, commenting on the potential conflicts of interest raised by the Trump family’s business dealings.
The Trump brothers are deeply enmeshed in multiple family-run enterprises. Eric Trump oversees the Trump Organization, the family’s flagship real estate business, while also serving on the board of World Liberty Financial, the family’s crypto firm. Donald Trump Jr. holds a leadership role at the Trump Organization and has been involved in the launch of American Bitcoin, a Bitcoin mining operation.
Their latest venture, a lavish private membership club named Executive Branch, is set to open in Georgetown this summer. With an eye-popping membership fee of $500,000, it’s yet another example of the Trump family’s relentless push for new income streams.
Despite the high-profile deals, the White House maintains there are no ethics concerns. “The president’s assets are in a trust managed by his children,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. “There are no conflicts of interest.”
Donald Trump Jr. himself weighed in on the controversy, dismissing suggestions that his business activities are problematic.
“It’s laughable that the left-wing media thinks that I should lock myself in a padded room while my father is president and cease doing what I’ve been doing for over 25 years to earn a living and provide for my five children,” he told The Times. “However, if I did do that, I guess I could always take up painting, which I hear can be quite lucrative.”
The comment seemed to be a pointed jab at Hunter Biden, whose own art sales came under scrutiny during his father’s presidency.
As the Trump family’s business expands across borders, their global deal-making continues to raise ethical questions and concerns about potential conflicts of interest that seem unprecedented in the history of American presidential politics.
