The Trump Organization’s international business dealings came under scrutiny in a New York Times report released Monday that claimed the president's family members are raking in a fortune in deals across the world.
“Just in the past 10 days, Donald Trump Jr. made stops in Hungary, Romania, Serbia, and Bulgaria,” the newspaper wrote.
At the same time, Eric Trump was visiting Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and other Middle East spots promoting the family’s real estate company and crypto plans.
"It is a rush to cash in that involves billions of dollars with few precedents in American history," the Times added.
“There’s nothing like it,” Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley told the Times about the potential conflicts of interest posed by the trips.
Both Trump sons are involved in several family business ventures.
Eric runs the Trump Organization, the family’s real estate business. He also serves on the board of a holding company that oversees the family’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial.
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Donald Trump Jr. is also an executive at the Trump Organization and started a Bitcoin mining operation, American Bitcoin, with his brother.
More recently, Trump Jr.’s business partners are rolling out a club called Executive Branch.
The private membership club costs $500,000 a person and is slated to open this summer in Georgetown.
The White House said there are no ethics issues involving the president because Mr. Trump’s sons run the businesses. “The president’s assets are in a trust managed by his children,” Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said. “There are no conflicts of interest.”
“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,” Donald Trump Jr. said in a statement to The Times. “However, if I did do that, I guess I could always take up painting, which I hear can be quite lucrative.”
The remark is a thinly veiled dig at President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, who sold his artwork while his father was president.
The Times noted that there are other presidential relatives who have benefited from their famous family members.
Billy Carter (brother of President Jimmy Carter) and Neil Bush (brother of President George W. Bush) have had questionable business dealings that have created questions about potential conflicts of interest.