With Congress Pliant, an Emboldened Trump Pushes His Business Interests - NYT

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Full article
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/politics/trump-ethics-conflicts-business-adams.html?unlocked_article_code=1.x04.E-2q.b4xPd-zKkFa8&smid=url-share



"Norms recognized for decades in Washington by both parties no longer appear to apply to the Trump White House, former prosecutors and ethics lawyers say.

The Oval Office meeting convened by President Trump brought together the most important leaders in the world of professional golf: Jay Monahan, the top executive at the PGA Tour, and, via telephone, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the chairman of the Saudi Arabia-backed league known as LIV Golf.

...Mr. Trump has re-entered the White House with a massively expanded portfolio of business interests, some of which require government approval or regulation, others of which are publicly traded, and still others involving foreign deals.

Presidents are not subject to the conflict of interest laws that regulate the rest of the government, but the recent actions underscore how emboldened Mr. Trump feels in his second term. It demonstrates his confidence that the lines dividing various Trump interests, and his desire to reward friends and punish perceived enemies, won’t trigger congressional oversight in a political ecosystem that he helped change..."

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1. Kushner Developing Deals Overseas Even as His Father-in-Law Runs for President - March 2024

Full article at link, posted by dalton99a


https://democraticunderground.com/100218780934

Kushner Developing Deals Overseas Even as His Father-in-Law Runs for President
Donald Trump’s son-in-law, who was also a senior White House official, said he was close to finalizing real estate projects in Albania and Serbia.
By Eric Lipton, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman
March 15, 2024 Updated 3:47 p.m. ET

Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Donald J. Trump, confirmed on Friday that he was closing in on major real estate deals in Albania and Serbia, the latest example of the former president’s family doing business abroad even as Mr. Trump seeks to return to the White House.

Mr. Kushner’s plans in the Balkans appear to have come about in part through relationships built while Mr. Trump was in office. Mr. Kushner, who was a senior White House official, said he had been working on the deals with Richard Grenell, who served briefly as acting director of national intelligence under Mr. Trump and also as ambassador to Germany and special envoy to the Balkans.

One of the proposed projects would be the development of an island off the coast of Albania into a luxury tourist destination.

A second — with a planned luxury hotel and 1,500 residential units and a museum — is in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, at the site of the long-vacant former headquarters of the Yugoslav Army destroyed in 1999 by the NATO bombings, according to a member of Parliament in Serbia and Mr. Kushner’s company.

These first two projects both involve land now controlled by the governments, meaning a deal would have to be finalized with foreign governments."

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2. New Luxury Hotel in Serbia Will Be a Trump-Kushner Joint Project

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219943436

Full article at link

"More than a decade after Donald J. Trump first floated the idea of developing a Trump hotel on a government-owned site in Serbia, his family is now close to securing that dream in a complicated deal that also involves a real estate magnate from Abu Dhabi and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law.

The plan illustrates the continued ambitions of Mr. Trump’s family to forge new international deals, even as he has returned to the White House. It also reflects a diminished focus, compared with that of his first term, on avoiding the appearance of a conflict of interest associated with the overseas projects.

... The hotel deal in Serbia is one of several recently announced new outlets of the Trump brand, with other projects disclosed in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

“Serbia is one of the fastest-growing countries in Europe, and we’re incredibly honored to be there,” Eric Trump, the president’s son, said in an interview on Friday confirming the new deal, adding that “it’s going to be fun to bring the family together.”

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3. Adding this article - What to Know About the Trump Family's Deals in the Middle East

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/05/us/politics/trump-gaza-middle-east.html

By Eric Lipton
Reporting from Washington
Published Feb. 5, 2025
Updated Feb. 6, 2025

"As President Trump pushes a new plan to take control of Gaza and clear out an area that is home to an estimated two million residents, he is advocating bringing the United States much more deeply into a region where his family has a growing collection of real-estate and business interests.

There is no part of the world as crucial to the growth of various Trump family business ventures as the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Israel, when the full portfolio of Mr. Trump as well as Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, are included. Here is a look at the family’s interests in the region and Mr. Trump’s proposal for Gaza.

... Real estate in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Dubai

The Middle East has in the past three years turned into the hottest spot for the Trump family in terms of new international real-estate deals. Most of these are so-called branding deals, which collectively earn the family tens of millions of dollars in fees in exchange for the right to use the name to help boost luxury condo, golf or hotel sales.

Recent agreements have been signed with a Saudi-based real estate company called Dar Al Arkan to build high-rise luxury apartments, golf courses or hotels in Oman, Saudi Arabia and Dubai..."