Bombshell Report on Trump's 'Secret Deal With UAE's 'Spy Sheikh' Rocks Political World: 'Unprecedented and Mind-Boggling

[Mr. Sparkle]

Source: Mediaite.com

The Wall Street Journal dropped a bombshell report over the weekend on what it dubbed an “unprecedented” deal between a foreign country and an incoming U.S. president, in this case, the United Arab Emirates and Donald Trump. The WSJ scoop, titled “‘Spy Sheikh’ Bought Secret Stake in Trump Company,” detailed UAE Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s half-a-billion-dollar purchase of 49% of Trump’s cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial – just four days before Trump became president for a second time.

“The deal with World Liberty Financial, which hasn’t previously been reported, was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son. At least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder who weeks earlier had been named U.S. envoy to the Middle East, the documents said,” added the report, noting that Trump’s chief Middle East negotiator also had a major stake in the deal.

The WSJ also explained why Tahnoon, dubbed the “Spy Sheikh” as he is also the UAE’s national security adviser and brother of the president, would make such a deal. Tahnoon manages a fund of over $1.3 trillion in assets, including significant investments in AI. "Under the Biden administration, Tahnoon’s efforts to get AI hardware had been largely stymied over fears that the sensitive technology could be diverted to China. Of particular concern was one of Tahnoon’s own companies, the AI firm G42, which had stoked alarm among intelligence officials and lawmakers over its close ties to the sanctioned tech giant Huawei and other Chinese firms. The company said it severed ties with China in late 2023, but concerns persisted."

Early in Trump’s second term, following his massive investment, Tahnoon met with Trump and Witkoff several times in the White House and was soon granted “access to around 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips a year—enough to build one of the world’s biggest AI data center clusters.”

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/bombshell-report-on-trumps-secret-deal-with-uaes-spy-sheikh-rocks-political-world-unprecedented-and-mind-boggling/

[Turbineguy]

1. Trump would never work for the US

He's been a foreign agent for too long.

[SergeStorms]

11. I don't know about "agent".....

but most certainly he's an asset of at least one foreign government, probably two or more.

The only thing that matters to Trump is money. If you throw enough money his way he'll give you the keys to the kingdom. And boy howdy have these countries been throwing money his way. Billions over the terms of his pResidency!

[BlueKota]

2. How much more has to be revealed?

Tsf needs to be impeached, but there are too many crooked and cowardly Republicans in Congress, who refuse to admit that, and Fetterman, the Judas, of our party. It's so dammed frustrating and wrong.

[brer cat]

3. K&R

[turbinetree]

4. Hey maga Congress/ Senate and US Supreme court ................you really can pound sand..........JFC.................

[John1956PA]

5. Meanwhile, the price of American Bitcoin Corp. shares, which the Trump family bailed out from last autumn:

[Quanto Magnus]

6. quid pro quo

grifters gonna grift

[PatSeg]

6. There was a time when we might see such a story

on CBS's 60 Minutes. Those days are long gone.

[chowder66]

8. Reporters need to dig into all of the Republicans enabling this by not doing anything about it.

Oh and a sexual predator and possible pedophile isn't worthy enough of the headline... "Rocking the Political World".

[gfarber]

9. WSJ Bombshell

There once was a journal named WSJ,
That dropped quite a bombshell one day:
A deal so unheard,
With a president-elect,
It made pundits all gasp, “No way.”

A Sheikh from the sands of UAE,
With pockets absurdly wealthy,
Bought crypto outright,
Half a billion in sight,
Just days before Trump swore his fealty.

This Sheikh Tahnoon, dubbed “Spy” by the press,
Wore many a power-address:
Security chief,
Royal sibling-in-brief,
And steward of trillions, no less.

The papers revealed, with a squint,
That Eric Trump signed with a hint:
Forty-nine percent,
To the Sheikh it was sent,
While the ink barely had time to imprint.

And Witkoff—cofounder, envoy,
Found fortune and office in joy:
Middle East czar,
With a financial star,
A combo that raised some alloy.

Tahnoon sought chips made of silicon dreams,
For AI and data-fueled schemes;
But Biden said “No,”
Fearing China’s long glow,
And Huawei’s persistent regimes.

Then Trump took his seat once again,
And doors opened wide now and then:
Half a million chips yearly,
Approved rather cheerly,
Enough for data centers galore, amen.

[calimary]

12. Yes indeed.

[Blasphemer]

10. Reason # 1,005,453 for him to be removed from office. nt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. MaddowBlog-Previously undisclosed UAE stake in Trump company sparks new controversy

The latest revelations led one Democratic senator to argue, “Foreign countries are bribing our president to sell out the American people.”

The latest revelations led one Democratic senator to argue, “Foreign countries are bribing our president to sell out the American people” -Sen. Chris Van Hollen (MD). Previously undisclosed UAE stake in tRump company sparks new controversy.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Petisia (@petisia.bsky.social) 2026-02-02T20:55:11.978Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/previously-undisclosed-uae-stake-in-trump-company-sparks-new-controversy

Controversies soon followed. Trump faced awkward questions, for example, about the curious group of business partners with whom he had linked arms. A year later, in one of the most scandalous presidential pardons in American history, Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance, which just so happened to have struck a lucrative business deal with World Liberty Financial.

The broader story, however, hasn’t hit rock bottom just yet. The Wall Street Journal reported:

Four days before Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, lieutenants to an Abu Dhabi royal secretly signed a deal with the Trump family to purchase a 49% stake in their fledgling cryptocurrency venture for half a billion dollars, according to company documents and people familiar with the matter. The buyers would pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities.

The deal with World Liberty Financial, which hasn’t previously been reported, was signed by Eric Trump, the president’s son. At least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with the family of Steve Witkoff, a World Liberty co-founder who weeks earlier had been named U.S. envoy to the Middle East, the documents said.

The deal, the Journal added, “marked something unprecedented in American politics: a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming U.S. president’s company” — which, at the time, “had no products.”.....

In the president’s first term, there was considerable interest in the emoluments clause and foreign interests renting rooms at Trump-owned properties. In his second term, the seeming corruption is spectacularly worse.

STEPHANOPOULOS: A foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming president's company -- how do you respond to those who say this is a serious conflict of interest?

BLANCHE (lying): The Biden family did the same thing

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-01T16:25:57.314Z

.....There are a few elements to this that are worth keeping in mind. First, never in American history has a foreign country bought a stake in a company owned by the American president, even as the president negotiated foreign policy matters with the other country. The idea that Joe Biden did “exactly the same thing” is plainly ridiculous.

Second, if Trump had been “completely transparent” about all of this, the Journal’s reporting would have been old news. It wasn’t — because all of this had been secret from the public up until now.

And third, let’s not overlook the fact that Blanche was offered an opportunity to offer his best possible defense of the president. Evidently, he couldn’t think of anything persuasive.

I guess that’s not too surprising, given how difficult it is to defend the indefensible.