Tag Archives: World Liberty Financial

Daily Beast: Stephanopoulos Slams Trump and Family’s ‘Brazen Corruption’

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The star anchor hammered the president for exploiting the highest office in the land for “billions of dollars.”

George Stephanopoulos came out swinging against President Donald Trump and his family during the opening remarks of his This Week broadcast on Sunday.

Stephanopoulos alleged that the Trump clan has exploited the highest office in the land to generate “billions of dollars” in deals.

“The scale is staggering,” the ABC host said. “President Trump and his family are making hundreds of millions, potentially billions of dollars as Trump and his administration take official actions that benefit contributors and investors.”

Stephanopoulos Slams Trump and Family’s ‘Brazen Corruption’
The star anchor hammered the president for exploiting the highest office in the land for “billions of dollars.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/abcs-george-stephanopoulos-slams-donald-trump-and-familys-brazen-corruption

New York Times: As Trumps Monetize Presidency, Profits Outstrip Protests

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The president and his family have monetized the White House more than any other occupant, normalizing activities that once would have provoked heavy blowback and official investigations.

When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures. Even though it had happened a dozen years before her husband became president, it became a scandal that lasted weeks and forced the White House to initiate a review.

Thirty-one years later, after dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Jeff Bezos agreed to finance a promotional film about Melania Trump that will reportedly put $28 million directly in her pocket — 280 times the Clinton lucre and in this case from a person with a vested interest in policies set by her husband’s government. Scandal? Furor? Washington moved on while barely taking notice.

The Trumps are hardly the first presidential family to profit from their time in power, but they have done more to monetize the presidency than anyone who has ever occupied the White House. The scale and the scope of the presidential mercantilism has been breathtaking. The Trump family and its business partners have collected $320 million in fees from a new cryptocurrency, brokered overseas real estate deals worth billions of dollars and are opening an exclusive club in Washington called the Executive Branch charging $500,000 apiece to join, all in the past few months alone.

Just last week, Qatar handed over a luxury jet meant for Mr. Trump’s use not just in his official capacity but also for his presidential library after he leaves office. Experts have valued the plane, formally donated to the Air Force, at $200 million, more than all of the foreign gifts bestowed on all previous American presidents combined.

And Mr. Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at his Virginia club for 220 investors in the $TRUMP cryptocurrency that he started days before taking office in January. Access was openly sold based on how much money they chipped in — not to a campaign account but to a business that benefits Mr. Trump personally.

trump-money-plane-crypto.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/us/politics/trump-money-plane-crypto.html

The Hill: Democrats rip Trump ahead of meme coin dinner: ‘Orgy of corruption

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However, the announcement of the dinner last month, which urged investors to load up on $TRUMP to secure one of 220 spots at the “intimate private dinner,” has sparked a new level of backlash. 

“Donald Trump’s dinner is an orgy of corruption,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday. “That’s what this is all about. We are here today to talk about exactly one topic: corruption, corruption in its ugliest form.”  

“Donald Trump is using the presidency of the United States to make himself richer through crypto, and he’s doing it right out there in plain sight,” she added. “He is signaling to anyone who wants to ask for a special favor and is willing to pay for it exactly how to do that.” 

Democrats rip Trump ahead of meme coin dinner: ‘Orgy of corruption’

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5314955-trump-meme-coin-dinner-criticism

USA Today: Trump’s crypto dinner: Black ties, a Chinese billionaire and ethics questions

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Referencing Trump’s business moves while in office, an ethics expert said, “His is one of the most blatant and appalling instances of selling access to the presidency I’ve ever seen.”

President Donald Trump dined with 220 investors who plowed a combined $148 million into his crypto venture, boosting the growing crypto industry and inviting a torrent of criticism about the ethical implications.

Black-tie dinners with the wealthy are nothing new for Trump. But this event, which took place on the evening of May 22 at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, stood out among the annals of presidential dining.

The dinner with the president was a reward for making the leaderboard in a contest to be among the top purchasers of the $TRUMP meme coin, a type of cryptocurrency. The top 25 buyers spent more than $111 million and were granted a private VIP reception with Trump, while the top four also received a limited edition Trump Tourbillon watch that sells for $100,000.

This is corruption and influence-peddling at is finest. King Donald is for sale!

Trump’s crypto dinner: Black ties, a Chinese billionaire and ethics questions
Trump hosted a black-tie dinner at his Virginia golf club for 220 investors who gave a combined $148 million to his crypto venture.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/22/trump-crypto-dinner-ethics-meme-coin/83787117007

Telegraph: ‘It’s open season for corruption’: How Trump turned the White House into a cash cow

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Naked profiteering by the US president and his family has triggered alarm bells in the Maga movement

Most.

Corrupt.

President

Ever!

Donald Trump caught his first sight of the so-called “palace in the sky” in February as he climbed the red-carpeted steps of the Boeing 747-8.

The Qatari plane was parked at Florida’s West Palm Beach International Airport, and offered a chance for the president to see what a newly refitted Air Force One could look like, easing his frustration with the long-delayed Boeing project.

In the event, it appears to have been more of a test drive. His administration’s plan to accept the $400m (£300m) luxury jet from the Qatari royal family, which he is expected to use after his presidency, is the latest example of what many view as an increased disregard for ethics in Washington under his second term.

During his first term in the White House, foreign governments buying meals and block-booking rooms at Trump hotels set alarm bells ringing.

Yet now the president has created even more opportunities for those looking to curry favour with him – and his children. From pay-to-dine cryptocurrency schemes, a new social media platform that carries advertising and the expansion of their property empire, it has never seemed easier for the Trump family to line their pockets.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/05/18/trump-turned-white-house-cash-machine

Mediaite: Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal

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President Donald Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times White House reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.

Trump is currently on a four-day swing through the Persian Gulf region with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which has been dogged by the controversy over his eager acceptance of a $400 million “flying palace” from Qatar to serve as Air Force One.

The trip has also drawn attention to Trump’s family businesses, including the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial.

That company’s USD1 currency was selected by state-owned UAE firm MGX to pay for a $2 billion investment in Binance earlier this month. The deal was announced by WLF co-founder Zach Witkoff, son of Trump Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump plays dumb:

JONATHAN SWAN: An Emirati government-backed firm did a $2 billion deal using the Trump digital coins. How did that deal come about?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know anything about it. I really don’t know anything about it. But I’m a big crypto fan, I will tell you. I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I’m a believer in crypto.

Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal
Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.
Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal

New York Times: Trump Family Bitcoin Company Announces Plan to Go Public

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American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency firm co-founded by Eric Trump, said it was merging with a company traded on the Nasdaq, the latest expansion of the family’s investments in crypto.

More profiteering on the coattails of our Grifter-in-Chief:

American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency firm co-founded by Eric Trump, announced on Monday that it would become publicly traded, the latest expansion of the Trump family’s investments across the crypto industry.

The company, which focuses on Bitcoin mining, is set to merge with Gryphon Digital Mining Inc., a firm that is already traded on the Nasdaq. Mr. Trump, the president’s middle son, is listed as one of the founders and a member of the company’s management team.

American Bitcoin was started in late March, when Mr. Trump and his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., announced that they were joining forces with a Bitcoin mining firm called Hut 8. Bitcoin mining is a vital branch of the crypto industry, in which major companies, many of them publicly traded, run energy-guzzling data centers to process Bitcoin transactions.

…

The business is one facet of an increasingly broad array of Trump family crypto ventures that have alarmed government ethics experts. President Trump and his sons have started a crypto firm called World Liberty Financial that offers its own digital coin. And working with a separate set of business partners, the Trump family has marketed the digital currency $TRUMP — a type of crypto called a memecoin that is typically treated more as a novelty investment than an actual currency.

At the same time, President Trump has taken steps to advance the crypto world’s interests in Washington, ending a Biden-era enforcement campaign against crypto companies and backing legislation supported by the industry.

In an investor presentation posted on its website, American Bitcoin aggressively promoted its connection with the Trump family, featuring a large photograph of Eric Trump near the beginning. A message next to the photo describes the company’s ambitions and links the firm to the domestic crypto industry in ways that echo the president’s messaging.

“Crypto is the future,” the message reads. “America must lead the way. American Bitcoin will set the standard.”

Among a list of key figures in the business, the presentation describes Eric Trump as a “strategic amplifier” who “drives brand equity and institutional visibility through unparalleled network reach.”

https://archive.is/dl1mG#selection-731.0-766.0

Alternet: Donald Trump just can’t resist the bribes | Opinion

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But one thing almost all Americans are firmly against — even many loyal Trumpers — [i]s bribery. And Trump is taking bigger and bigger bribes.

Yesterday it was reported that he’s accepting a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane worth at least $400 million from the Qatari royal family, for use during his presidency and for his personal use afterward.

Trump just can’t resist. He’s been salivating over the plane for months. It’s bigger and newer than Air Force One — and so opulently configured that it’s known as “a flying palace.” (No report on whether it contains a golden toilet.)

Apparently he’s been talking about the plane for months. In February, he toured it while it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport.

He’s tried to redecorate the White House into a palace but that’s not nearly as satisfying as flying around the world in one, especially once he’s left the White House (assuming he will).

https://www.alternet.org/donald-trump-just-can-t-resist-the-bribes