Trump Jr.'s defense crumbles as  'remarkable non-answer' exposed in dubious $500M deal

Donald Trump Jr. had no valid excuse when trying to defend the crypto firm he helped found taking in a $500 million investment from a company tied to the United Arab Emirates, David Kirkpatrick of The New Yorker told CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday.

This comes after the firm, World Liberty Financial, issued a statement to CNN denying any link between the Emirati investment and a controversial agreement to render chips to the Middle Eastern country.

"Any claimthat this deal had anything todo with the administration'sactions on chips is 100 percent false," the company said.

"Steve Witkoff is thepresident's top envoy in theMiddle East, and his sons arealso on the board of World Liberty Financial, along withTrump's sons," said Tapper, turning to Kirkpatrick, who has extensively covered the Trump family's financial conflicts. "David, what do you makeof Donald Trump Jr.'s defense there?"

"Yeah, it was a remarkable non-answer," said Kirkpatrick. "You know the question is, did the president know that four days before the inauguration, he had just received a huge financial payment from the Emiratis, an investment that is so hard to value. It looks very much like a gift that ... would constitute a conflict of interest. And he didn't really speak to that."

Besides that, Kirkpatrick said, it raises red flags that the deal "wasn't disclosed."

"Infact, the company seems to havetaken some actions to keep ithidden almost all of the otherTrump investments, which, youknow, in many ways have raised alot of questions about potentialconflicts of interest orexploiting the president'spersonal profit," said Kirkpatrick. "He announcesthose with a press release. Thisis the only one, to myknowledge, that they have triedto hide. And you have to wonder why."

- YouTubeyoutu.be