The Media baselessly implies that Trump had a quid pro quo deal with foreign nations who lived in Trump’s Hotels
Just
yesterday, it was reported that during the Trump presidency, the governments of
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, China, and Malaysia
spend a combined total of over $700,000 at the Trump's hotels in
D.C. while they were attempting to influence U.S. foreign policy.
These
reports were based on the documents obtained by the House
Committee on Oversight and Reform from Trump’s former accounting firm
The
following were some of the key revelations
The
former prime minister of Malaysia Najib Razak and his delegation spent $259,724
at the hotel during a one-week stay in September 2017, including a $10,000 room
and $1,500 “Personal Trainer” and $9,229 for “Coffee Break[s].”
This
occurred when Razak was lobbying the Trump administration to drop an
investigation into a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund he had co-founded.
The
Malaysian sovereign wealth fund was under investigation by the Justice
Department for embezzling billions in funds and laundering them through
American financial institutions to buy exclusive properties in the U.S., a
yacht, and fine art by Monet and van Gogh.
What
happened to Razak?
The
Trump DOJ confiscated and returned hundreds of millions of dollars to the
Malaysian people in 2021. Razak was voted out of office in 2018 and in
August a Malaysian court ordered him to begin a 12-year prison sentence for
corruption.
Elliott
Broidy, a Republican fundraiser and Trump ally also spent more than $5,000 at
the hotel during the week the Malaysian delegation stayed there.
What
happened to Broidy?
He
was convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Malaysia and other
countries. Broidy admitted to illegally lobbying Trump and then-Attorney
General Jeff Sessions to drop the civil forfeiture proceedings against Razak's
The
Turkish Embassy had booked two stays at the Trump hotel around Turkish
President Erdoğan's May 2017. The 'American Turkish Council Call In,' the
main Turkish lobbying group in D.C spent $65,139 at Trump hotels
Erdoğan was
pushing Trump to have the DOJ drop its investigation into Halkbank, a
Turkish bank.
What
happened to Halkbank?
Halkbank was charged in October 2019 for evading U.S.
sanctions on Iran.
In
August 2017, the Embassy of China delegation spent $19,391 at the Trump
International Hotel.
What
happened to China?
Trump
was the only US President to confront China on myriad fronts. In 2018 when
Trump slapped tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese-made goods.
Over the next year, he added duties to more items after Beijing retaliated with
tariffs on some American-made products.
The
Saudis spent $85,961 during a one-week stay in March 2018, including renting
several $10,500 suites.
So
what happened with Saudi Arabia?
Trump
made the US a leading oil producer which made the US less dependent on Saudi
oil. When Trump struck a
deal with Saudi-led OPEC in 2020, it reduced Saudi’s influence regarding oil
production and pushed his 'America first' agenda.
Qatari
officials and connected companies spent at least $307,941 at the Trump hotel
from late 2017 through mid-2018.
Clearly, the hotel stays didn't have much impact on foreign policy.
Yet
the House Oversight Committee chair, Rep.
Carolyn Maloney, D.-N.Y., accused President Trump of "being guided by his
personal financial interest while in office rather than the best interests of
the American people."
Now
for some facts, that few outlets carried.
President Trump hannded over day-to-day control of the D.C.
hotel to his sons during his presidency.
In
a statement, Eric Trump said the following:
“As
a company, we went to tremendous lengths to avoid even the appearance of a
conflict of interest, not due to any legal requirement, but because of the
respect, we have towards the office of the presidency.
We
walked away from billions of dollars in new deals, ceased all international
expansion, engaged with an outside ethics advisor to review any material
transactions, and furthermore, have voluntarily donated all profits from
foreign government patronage at our properties back to the United States
Treasury on an annual basis.”
If
profits were his motive as these findings seem to imply, Trump would never have
become President, in fact, he would never have entered politics.
We
must not forget that prior to entering politics, Trump was hugely popular among
the ‘elites’. He attended movie premiers, fashion shows, and award functions.
Many of these ‘elites’ lived in his various properties within the US and
beyond. They collaborate with Trump in various ventures. They cheered and have
him standing ovations.
However,
as Trump ascended the ladders of GOP politics he became a pariah among the very
crowd who once celebrated him. Trump must have lost out on a number of
high-value customers owing to his politics. The elites fearing retaliation
probably shunned anything that was perceived to be associated with Trump.
Trump
was probably the world’s first politician to suffer considerable pecuniary loss
upon being elected to the highest office in the nation
Trump
fell off the
Forbes 400, the annual list of America's richest people, during his Presidency. It was the first time in 25
years that Trump wasn't on the list. Trump recently
made a comeback into the list upon leaving the White House
Trump
was probably the first president in history to donate all the salaries that he
received back to the US government.
Yet
the media carried these stories to imply that Trump was enriching himself at
the cost of foreign policy.
https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1592208564755763202
https://twitter.com/dcexaminer/status/1592298350094737409
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1592204478924869633
https://twitter.com/axios/status/1592239031118544896
https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1592244684230774784
The problem is that the media still seems to have credibility and
considerable reach.
That
is probably one of the reasons that the Democrats did well during the midterms
despite Biden’s catastrophic misgovernance.
The
media partnered with the Democrats to push the narrative that Democracy
is in danger if the GOP wins. They also peddled paranoia that the GOP
intended to have women arrested for even
mentioning abortion with their doctors.
It
truly is unfortunate that a significant number of citizens will never ever be
exposed to facts about Trump sacrificing
his salary and his net worth dropping during his presidency. They have been
indoctrinated with the narrative that Trump is a heartless ogre whose sole
focus is self-aggrandizement and profits.
Perhaps
brainwashing has penetrated to such depth that some individuals are impervious
to inconvenient facts, they will merely dismiss it as right-wing propaganda.
The
same group probably will never know of real corruption when Joe Biden used his
influence as Vice President to enable his son Hunter to enrich
himself in Ukraine and China.
They will also never know that during Hillary Clinton's
tenure as Secretary of State, a number of individuals, organizations, and
countries allegedly contributed
to the Clinton Foundation either while pursuing interests with the U.S.
Government.
For
a Democracy to function properly the news media and the various House Oversight
committees must function as watchdogs.
Alas,
the media has devolved into a PR Wing for the Democrats, and various House
Oversight Committees have been politicized by the Democrats.
Hence
the group who should be vigilant watchdogs have become slobbering lapdogs of
the establishment.
Will matters improve once the GOP
takes back the House?
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDadIE3QQFY
Also appears on American Thinker
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