Former President Donald Trump's foreign business entanglements would render him the "most conflicted president in U.S. history" should he win a second term — but he's keeping mum on the safeguards he promised to uphold during the first, a New York Times analysis revealed Tuesday.
Trump has more financial conflicts of interests in 2024 than he did when running for president in 2016 but he has said less to ensure the American people money won't influence his policy, experts told the Times.
“It is really worrisome,” said presidential historian Mark K. Updegrove. “It could prompt him to make policy decisions that he would not otherwise make.”
Among new foreign deals are real estate ventures in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam, all of which have high-stakes and controversial relationships with the U.S., the Times reported.
The former president's publicly-traded company Trump Media has shares open for purchase by foreigners and overseas entities, the Times reported.
Domestic conflicts include extensive collections of branded merchandise and Trump's promises to deregulate cryptocurrency as he sets up a venture in that industry.
Trump's previous self-imposed ethics plan "would prohibit much of this current deal-making" if implemented, the article noted.
Even if Trump agrees to limit foreign dealmaking in office, which he did last time, "the recent deals will most likely be grandfathered in, because his company moved swiftly to announce them well ahead of any potential new constraints," a source told the Times.
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The former president drew criticisms for mixing government and personal business with ventures such as the Old Post Office Building, converted into a posh D.C. hotel where international dignitaries curried favor with Trump's administration and the Secret Service was reportedly overcharged to stay.
All of this comes as Trump faces a blatant conflict of a different sort: a federal indictment against him for his plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which he could order the Justice Department to dismiss if he takes office.
