Donald Trump Jr. defended his family after they were accused of corruption over a secret deal in which the UAE invested millions in a crypto venture in apparent exchange for clearance to purchase powerful AI chips that could end up in the hands of China.
During an interview on Wednesday, CNBC's Sara Eisen asked Donald Trump Jr. and his brother, Eric Trump, about the World Financial Liberty deal with the UAE. Critics have called the deal a "blatant, disgraceful conflict of interest and a possible violation of the Constitution's Federal Emoluments Clause."
"I do want to ask you about, you know, the World Liberty Corporation," she said, "and there was this big Wall Street Journal report about the 49% stake that was sold to an Emirati royal family member after your father was elected president raising raising questions about whether they were doing that so they could get access to AI chips."
"A, my father has nothing to do with it," Donald Trump Jr. insisted. "B, it has nothing to do with AI chips, and C, we met in the Middle East the first time. There's not a person in that room, there's not a banker, there's not a fund manager that doesn't go to the Middle East and to the, you know, whether the sovereign wealth funds of the world, there's some of the biggest investors in every fund in America."
"To critique the one here and not talk about the others would be nonsense," he continued. "It's literally what they do. And so they have done that. They invested in it, and they've actually had already over 4x return on their investment. It's a great investment and has nothing to do with the other."
According to the president's son, his father was criticized for similar corruption in his first term.
"I mean, they tried all this nonsense the first time around," Donald Trump Jr. remarked. "Frankly, it's gotten old. They were the ones that put us into this position by creating legislation to try to put us out of business. We just fought back."
"We weren't willing to sit in a corner, curl up in a ball, and die like they would love us to do. That's not how we function. That's not how we operate."
For his part, Eric Trump touted the benefits of Bitcoin even though it had lost thousands in value in recent months.
"Name an asset class that has performed better than Bitcoin," he said. "If you don't want volatility, you know, go invest in some muni, you know, go have a great time, go invest in some treasury."
"You're going to have volatility with something that has a tremendous upside, but I've never been more bullish on Bitcoin in my life," he added. "I've never been more bullish on cryptocurrency in my life."
