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Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tucker Carlson on Trump Organization Middle East deals: ‘Seems like corruption'
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson agreed with a guest on his podcast that the timing of the Trump Organization's business ventures in the Middle East — just as the Trump administration announced new deals with those foreign governments — 'seems like corruption.' In an interview on 'The Tucker Carlson Show' podcast, the far-right host asked former U.S. Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan how he thinks the Trump administration is doing so far. Ryan, who hosts his own popular podcast, started by praising President Trump for his work rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and some of the efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — though he said he thinks it might have gone too far. But Ryan said he thinks the administration needs 'a lot of work' and that he is 'losing hope,' pointing to the appearance of impropriety stemming from the Trump Organization's dealings in the Middle East. 'F‑‑‑ it, I'm going to get blasted for this, but, you know, I mean, I see all these negotiations going on in the Middle East and then — I don't know when these buildings were approved or when these deals got done — but then I also see, like, oh, there's a brand new hotel going up in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, and another one going up in Doha, I think,' Ryan said. 'And I'm like, did these just get done — also with the deals which just happened over there — or was this earlier?' he continued. Trump's family business ventures include a new deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar in partnership with Qatari Diar, a real estate company backed by the country's sovereign wealth fund. The Trump family company is also leasing its brand to two new real estate projects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and is set to build a Trump Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as an upcoming Trump International Hotel and luxury golf development in Oman. Meanwhile, the president just traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he announced a series of significant economic and defense deals with the countries, including lifting previous export restrictions on artificial intelligence (AI) chip sales to the region. Trump also announced a new deal with the UAE to build the largest AI data center outside the U.S. in Abu Dhabi. 'That stuff kind of worries me,' Ryan added. 'Well, it seems like corruption, yeah,' Carlson replied. Ryan lamented that 'the U.S. has just become so tribal now,' saying it's difficult to give constructive criticism without 'getting blasted.' He said people are losing their critical thinking skills and just blindly falling in line with 'whatever that tribe says they're going to do.' 'I agree with every word,' Carlson said at the end of Ryan's remarks. The exchange was first highlighted by Mediaite. The White House has pushed back on concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Asked before he left for the Middle East if Trump might use the trip to meet with people tied to his family's business, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was 'ridiculous' to 'suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.' 'The president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws,' she said. Administration officials have brushed off such concerns about the president's policy decisions bleeding into the business interests of his family by noting that Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children. A voluntary ethics agreement released by The Trump Organization also bars the firm from striking deals directly with foreign governments. The Associated Press contributed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Business Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Trump Organisation eyes Trump Tower in Ho Chi Minh City, government document says
[HO CHI MINH CITY] Executives at Trump Organisation, a privately owned business of US President Donald Trump, are going to visit Ho Chi Minh City to survey potential sites for a Trump Tower project, according to a government document seen by The Business Times. The delegation led by executive vice-president Eric Trump – Trump's third eldest child – will arrive on Thursday (May 22), with plans to meet the city leadership at a dinner at a central hotel in the city. They are going to inspect sites at Thu Thiem, a peninsula that lies across the Saigon River from downtown Ho Chi Minh City. The city authority has recently earmarked vacant land parcels in this area to woo multibillion-dollar investments for the development of the country's new international financial centre. This comes amid the ongoing trade negotiations between Washington and Hanoi as the latter has sought to avoid a reciprocal tariff of 46 per cent – one of Asia's highest rates – imposed by the Trump administration and currently on hold until early July. Trump Organisation is operating or licensing its name to dozens of Trump-branded properties around the world. These projects often encompass a mix of luxury residential, commercial, and hospitality developments. The Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai, announced in late April under a licensing deal with UAE-based developer Dar Global, is an 80-storey skyscraper scheduled for completion in 2031. It is planned to feature luxury residences starting at US$1 million, a five-star hotel, a private members' club called the Trump, and the highest outdoor swimming pool. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 8.30 am Asean Business Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies. Sign Up Sign Up US$1.5b golf complex approved Another executive group led by Charles James Boyd Bowman, general director of the Trump Organisation's Vietnam project, is set to visit Ho Chi Minh City on Monday (May 19), the internal document says. Earlier in March, Bowman met Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who urged the Trump Organisation to consider Vietnam as a business base and broaden its investments into other localities, particularly in sectors aligned with Vietnam's priorities. Last Friday, state newspaper Tuoi Tre reported that the US$1.5 billion project co-developed by Trump Organisation and Vietnam's real estate developer Kinhbac City had received approval from the Vietnamese government. The project, spanning 990 hectares of land in Hung Yen province near Hanoi, involves developments of golf courses, hotels, resorts, and a modern residential complex. Reuters reported in March that it would break ground in May, with a second golf and hotel project expected to be announced this year. Both are planned to be operational by mid-2027. Besides Vietnam, Trump Organisation has partnered to develop golf resorts in Indonesia as its first venture into South-east Asia since 2014. South-east Asia is home to more than 1,000 operational 18-hole golf courses, with Thailand leading the pack with 306 courses, based on data compiled by consulting firm Asia Golf Journey. Among them, Vietnam and Indonesia currently have more than 80 and 180 courses, respectively.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump luxury hotel project on hold after official admits to forging documents
A $500m project to build Donald Trump's first Trump International Hotel in Europe could be in jeopardy, after a Serbian official admitted to forging a document to advance the development, according to a report. The president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who served in his first administration alongside his wife, Ivanka Trump, is seeking permission via his Miami-based property company, Affinity Partners, to build on a site in Belgrade where the remains of the old Yugoslav Ministry of Defense headquarters still stand. The compound was badly damaged in a U.S.-led Nato bombing campaign during the Kosovo War of 1999. Trump has reportedly been interested in acquiring the site since 2014, unconcerned by local unease about replacing a historical landmark associated with wartime suffering with a lavish American luxury resort. He finally secured tentative approval last year, but the project has now hit a fresh administrative obstacle, according to The New York Times. Goran Vasic, former director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, has been arrested after admitting to inventing an expert opinion in order to justify the decision to strip the site of its protected status, which shielded it from demolition. The legal protection was removed on November 14 last year, less than two weeks after Trump won the U.S. presidential election, allowing the project to move ahead. 'Vasic forged a proposal for a decision to revoke the status of cultural property,' the Office of the Prosecutor for Organized Crime said in a statement. Affinity Partners has responded with a statement of its own denying any involvement or knowledge of the affair. 'Today we learned from media reports that a former Serbian government official with no connection to our firm allegedly falsified documents related to the landmark designation of the Belgrade Square project,' it read. 'We will review this matter and determine next steps.' Even before Vasic's confession, the proposed development had attracted protests in Serbia, notably on March 24 this year when the 26th anniversary of the bombing campaign was observed. But the country's president, Aleksandar Vucic, has been receptive to the prospect of the Trump Hotel Belgrade being realized. He hosted Kushner and Donald Trump Jr. and visited Florida in April in the hope of meeting his U.S. counterpart, but he cut the trip short on health grounds without achieving his aim. The situation arises at a time when Trump is facing growing criticism about his efforts to expand his business empire while occupying the White House. His first major overseas trip to the Middle East this week has been overshadowed by ethical objections to his decision to accept a $400m Boeing jet as a gift from the Qatari royal family. Members of his family have meanwhile been busy touting for business in the same region, announcing a $5.5bn deal to build an 18-hole Trump International Golf Club in Qatar and a $2bn commitment from the United Arab Emirates towards the family's new cryptocurrency exchange. Qatari state-backed funds were also part of a $6bn funding round for Trump adviser Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, and another Qatari fund has invested in Kushner's private equity firm.
12-05-2025
- Business
Trump to visit Gulf region, where diplomacy collides with his family business
When President Donald Trump arrives in the Persian Gulf Tuesday for his first oversees visit since regaining the White House, he'll touch down in a region that's rich in opportunity. On the diplomatic front, he's expected to focus on trade agreements and economic ties. But for Trump and his family, there are also opportunities in the form of business ventures and real estate deals. Some ethics experts say the way his family business has approached these opportunities brings up familiar concerns of potential conflicts of interest as Trump meets with the region's leaders, who could hold sway over the success of Trump's ventures there. During Trump's first term, his family said they wouldn't pursue any new overseas business ventures. But now, in Trump's second term, the Trump Organization has several active projects in the Gulf region -- including some that have launched in the months since Trump returned to office -- suggesting that his self-imposed moratorium has dissipated. Trump's visit to the United Arab Emirates, for example, comes just over a week after the Trump Organization announced the development of an 80-floor residential building and club called the Trump International Hotel & Tower, Dubai. At a launch party for the project last week, an executive of Dar Global, the development firm partnering with the Trump Organization, said in a highly produced social media clip that the project "is perfectly positioned to capture Dubai's growth, offering investors the rare chance to be part of a global success -- powered by the Trump name and Dar Global's expertise." And last week, the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, announced that an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm would be making a major $2 billion investment in the firm. USD1, World Liberty Financial's so-called "stablecoin" -- a digital asset designed to maintain a stable value -- is expected to be used to complete Emirati investment firm MGX's $2 billion investment transaction in crypto exchange Binance, ABC News reported. In Qatar, Trump will arrive just two weeks after his son Eric Trump inked a deal to develop a $5.5 billion golf club just north of Doha, called the Trump International Golf Club, Simaisima, which will include "an 18-hole golf course, exclusive clubhouse, and Trump-branded villas," according to plans. And in Saudi Arabia, three Trump Organization projects are currently underway, including two residential projects and a golf course. The development firm they've partnered with for many of these regional projects, Dar Global, reportedly has close ties to the Saudi government. Trump also recently hosted a high-profile golf tournament for the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour at his Trump National Doral resort near Miami. Before Trump was sworn in for his second term, Eric Trump announced that the Trump Organization had hired an outside ethics adviser to help the firm enact a "series of comprehensive ethical measures" that would "proactively address potential conflicts." "Although neither federal law nor the United States Constitution prohibits Presidents from continuing to own, operate, and manage their businesses and investments while in office, The Trump Organization has taken these additional steps as part of its ongoing commitment to ensuring transparency, upholding the highest legal standards and avoiding even the appearance of ethical concerns," said the announcement. Many ethics experts have roundly criticized the arrangement as insufficient. Danielle Brian, executive director of the nonpartisan government watchdog Project on Government Oversight, told ABC News that the Trump Organization's business endeavors, including those overseas, are entirely legal -- but that Trump is "taking the weakness in our current ethics laws ... to just a whole new level in this administration." "We've never seen the kind of money at stake and the kind of brazen leveraging of political power for a personal financial gain that we've seen in this administration," Brian said. Ahead of Trump's visit to the Gulf, the ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wrote that "Trump knows that the decisions he makes as president could affect his bottom line, and foreign officials in those countries could provide special treatment for the president of the United States -- or exact punishment for decisions they don't like." Trump has yet to release his financial disclosures as president, so it's unclear what arrangements he has made to ensure a firewall between his personal businesses and his presidency. But Trump and the White House have repeatedly and forcefully denied that his private business interests amount to a conflict of interest. Asked Friday whether Trump would conduct any personal business meetings during his visit to the Middle East, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was "frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit."
ME Construction
02-05-2025
- Business
- ME Construction
Trump International Hotel & Tower launched by Dar Global and the Trump Organisation
Property Trump International Hotel & Tower launched by Dar Global and the Trump Organisation By This project marks the Middle East's inaugural Trump International Hotel & Tower and the fifth collaborative venture between Dar Global and the Trump Organisation Dar Global and The Trump Organisation have announced the launch of Trump International Hotel & Tower in Dubai. This decision is driven by the region's long-term growth potential and the company's commitment to providing value to investors and residents. The project marks the Middle East's inaugural Trump International Hotel & Tower and the fifth collaborative venture between Dar Global and the Trump Organisation. This new development is located along Sheikh Zayed Road, at the entrance of Downtown Dubai, offering views of the Burj Khalifa and the sea. Occupying 80 floors, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Dubai will present hospitality offerings rooms and suites, private lounges, personalised service, and amenities for guests. The Trump, a private, members-only club, offers exclusivity and experience for select members. The property will feature a resort-style pool dedicated to residents only. Furthermore, residents and guests will enjoy access to what's said to be the world's highest outdoor pool. Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of The Trump Organisation said, 'Trump International Hotel & Tower, Dubai is a project that reflects our unwavering commitment to excellence, luxury and innovation. We are honored to partner once again with Dar Global on this landmark development, bringing unparalleled quality and world class amenities to Dubai's luxury market. Dubai is a global destination that shares our vision for iconic development, and we're proud to expand the Trump brand in one of the most dynamic cities on earth. Ziad El Chaar, CEO of Dar Global added, 'Dubai's vibrant economy and strategic location make it a prime destination for global investment, and Dar Global recognises this potential. The Trump International Hotel & Tower, developed alongside the Trump Organisation, is perfectly positioned to capitalise on this growth, offering investors a unique opportunity to participate in Dubai's success story while benefiting from the strength and prestige of the Trump brand as well as Dar Global's expertise in luxury real estate development.' Crowning the Tower, two penthouses with sky pools epitomise the design and exclusivity, setting a new benchmark for luxury living in Dubai. Inspired by the Trump Tower Penthouse on New York's 5th Avenue, these duplexes boast floor-to-ceiling windows that capture views of the Dubai skyline, said the statement.
