How Trump turned the White House into his personal business world
In September, the NYT released data from the federal tax returns of Trump and his business empire. This was how Trump took advantage of his image as a successful businessman to win the presidency
An investigation carried out by The New York Times (NYT) revealed a series of irregularities that would be happening inside the world of the White House. These places the current US president, Donald Trump, as the greatest beneficiary of the businesses that are transacted through his personal companies.
According to the New York newspaper, Trump’s businesses include meetings with billionaires to raise funds for his presidential campaign. In return, the president would grant benefits in credits and contracts to the companies of those who contribute “donations”.
In addition, Trump would use as business centers for this type of activities — classified as “presidential” — his luxurious hotels, especially in the so-called Mar-a-Lago Club. It is an exclusive space that only allows access to those who cancel an initial action of $ 250,000 and can verify that they have real economic power.
In that sense, the question that arises is: What is Trump’s true purpose in seeking re-election, continue to enrich himself, or govern the country?
Who are the beneficiaries
“It was spring at the Mar-a-Lago Club and favor seekers swarmed a gold-adorned ballroom filled with Republican donors. An Illinois-born industrialist pressured Trump to tweet about easing immigration rules for highly skilled workers and their children”. This informs the news report.
“He gave a million dollars”, Trump told his guests approvingly, according to a recording of the April 2018 event cited by the NYT.
That same month, in the dining room of the Mar-a-Lago Club, Trump reached out to one of the newer members, an Australian tycoon who brought in a reporter to flaunt his access. “Thanked him for running a newspaper ad praising his role in building a paper and box factory in Ohio”.
In early March, a Tennessee real estate developer wanted billions in loans from the Trump administration. So he met with the head of the White House at his personal club and asked for his help.
Trump greeted his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and said, “Go ahead”, after describing the developer as “a very important guy”. This is what Cohen recalled in a recent interview.
Trump reinvented business in Washington
The NYT explains that Trump did not limit himself to ending Washington’s privileged culture of lobbying and favor-seeking. Rather, he reinvented it, turning his hotels and resorts “into the new back rooms of the Beltway, where a mix of public and private businesses and special interests reigns”.
“As president-elect, he had vowed to walk away from the Trump Organization and recuse himself from the operations of his private company. As president, he built a system of direct presidential influence peddling unrivaled in modern American politics”, explains the newspaper.
In September, the NYT released data from the federal tax returns of Trump and his business empire. This was how Trump took advantage of his image as a successful businessman to win the presidency. However, “large swaths of their real estate were lost under financial stress, accumulating losses over the previous decades”.
But once Trump was in the White House, his family business discovered a lucrative new source of income. “People who wanted something from the president”, says the media.
What is the basis of the investigation
The investigation also found more than 200 companies, special interest groups and foreign governments sponsoring Trump properties. And they did everything while benefiting from him and his administration.
“Tax records, along with the membership lists from Mar-a-Lago and the President’s Golf Club in Bedminster, NJ, as well as other sources, reveal how much money this new line of business was worth (…) 60 clients with interests at stake, contributed nearly $ 12 million to his family business during the first two years of his presidency. Almost everyone saw their interests promoted, in some way, by Trump or his government”, explains the New York media.
The newspaper adds that, for a long time, Trump has been known to conduct official business on his properties. Even those who sought help from his administration were not ashamed to announce their accession to the president’s reign.
The NYT compilation reflects a review of hundreds of social media posts from his sponsors. Many of them enthusiastically documented their visits to Trump properties, as well as a variety of news articles.
Foreign politicians and oil adversaries
The businesses include nearly 250 interviews with business executives, club members, property employees, and current or former management officials. They all provide “a full description of how well Trump’s clients fared with his administration and how the president benefited from his reinvented swamp”.
In response to detailed questions about this article, a White House spokesperson, Judd Deere, issued a short statement. In it, he noted that Trump had “delegated the day-to-day responsibilities of the successful business he built” to his two sons.
“The president has kept his promise to the American people to fight for them, drain the swamp and always put the nation first”, added Deere.
“The clients of the properties were very diverse: foreign politicians and sugar magnates from Florida, a Chinese billionaire and a Serbian prince. Also clean energy enthusiasts and their adversaries in the oil industry, activists and contractors of small governments declared that they were looking for billions of increasing federal budgets”, describes the newspaper.
Awards and royalties
To sponsors, the Trump administration provided funds, laws and land to its clients and also granted them appointments to task forces and embassies. That, in addition to being part of the presidential directive and in the less notorious cases having ephemeral presences in a presidential tweet.
The news report details that some sponsors lost by facing “more favored interests, the chaos of the White House or the fleeting attention span of the president”.
Others still push for last minute wins. Many said — in interviews — that any favorable results from the administration were secondary to their patronage. So whether they won or lost, Trump benefited financially. In addition, they paid their family business for golf outings and steak dinners, for large corporate retreats and galas”, adds the NYT.
The news report explains that more than 70 defense groups, companies and foreign governments organized events on the president’s properties. These were activities that were previously held elsewhere. Also, they created new events that brought dollars into Trump’s business.
Religion and Trump’s comfort zone
Religious organizations did both, booking more than two dozen prayer meetings, banquets and tours. In addition, they took advantage of the president’s popularity among white evangelicals to bolster their own fundraising and influence.
Until the pandemic, a well-connected attorney organized a monthly meeting, known as Trump First Tuesday, which was attended by the president’s acolytes.
“They are sophisticated people and they adapt to where the president is”, said Bryan Lanza, a Washington lobbyist close to the administration.
Before becoming president, Trump rarely visited his properties frequently. Yet many others did, and for good reason: ‘You’re in the president’s comfort zone, Mar-a-Lago, Bedminster. That is where he is going to relax and recharge”, said Lanza.
Donors even paid for the privilege of giving money to his campaign. Trump attended 34 fundraisers at his hotels, events that brought his properties millions of dollars in revenue.
“Sometimes he lined up his donors to ask what they needed from the government. Others might see him at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where he liked to dine at the steakhouse, often served by the restaurant manager. Also, on weekends at Mar-a-Lago, where he liked to appear at the big event at the day”, explains the newspaper.
“It was very likely that he was close by. The president has visited his resorts and hotels for almost 400 days since his inauguration”, said the NYT.
The Trump (White) House?
Trump, both businessman and president, keeps an eye on properties run by the Trump Organization, now run by his sons Eric and Donald Jr. As he passed by the Washington hotel, he would sometimes let managers know that they were briefing him on their performance.
“Eric tells me you’re doing a great job”, Trump would say, according to former administration officials. At Mar-a-Lago, he told members with shares that they should raise prices for the new crowd that wanted to join the club.
Trump decided to increase the club’s shares on at least two occasions. Thus, he brought the initiation fee to a quarter of a million dollars, according to a membership application referred to by the NYT.
While Trump insists on winning presidential re-election at all costs, he is surveying his business empire from the White House. To do this, he occasionally familiarizes himself with the details of the club’s membership lists, according to two people close to him.
Sometimes, Eric Trump told his dad about specific groups that had booked events at Mar-a-Lago, a former administration official said.
The New York Times concludes that the Trump Organization did not respond to repeated requests for comment, nor did it respond to a detailed description of the events included in its news report.
