‘Open season on profiteering’: Ex-Bush lawyer sounds alarm over Trump's business empire
President-elect Donald Trump will enter the White House with a business empire bigger and more varied than that he had during his last administration — and the capacity for corruption has watchdogs in a panic.
Trump has ‘expanded dramatically’ from the real-estate business that was his mainstay in 2016, according to NBC News. He’s reached far into the world of social media and cryptocurrency and has multiple licensing deals.
And, while he promised to put his business into the hands of his family while he served last time, he’s made no such offer this time, NBC reported.
“The scale has changed,” warned Jordan Libowitz of the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
“Previously, there was one real way you could benefit Trump and that was physically going to one of his properties and spending money there. Now, you have the opportunity to pump millions into his stock, into crypto — and just directly write him a check.”
NBC News reported that Trump plans to have a much more involved role in his businesses during this administration than he had in his last.
He’s promoting new products — including a line of guitars last month and a fragrance that he advertised last weekend. And he’s planning a trip to Scotland next year to open a new golf course.
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“It’s open season on the profiteering,” Richard Painter, President George W. Bush’s ethics lawyer, told NBC.
Among the many businesses Trump has that could line his pockets over the next four years ago:
Real estate
During his last administration, 144 members of Congress and 150 foreign officials stayed at Trump properties, NBC reported. They hosted 100 political events and 142 organized by special interest groups.
Trump also stayed at his own properties hundreds of times, along with his security and staff — all paid for by taxpayers dollars. The Secret Service paid up to $1,185 a night, NBC reported.
Cryptocurrency
Two months before his election, Trump opened World Liberty Financial, which aims to be a crypto bank.
Since his election, the value of bitcoin increased massively.
“CONGRATULATIONS BITCOINERS!!! $100,000!!! YOU’RE WELCOME!!! Together, we will Make America Great Again!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Hilary Allen, a financial regulation expert, told NBC , the venture offers Trump unlimited profits.
“Allen added, unlike Trump’s physical businesses, which have physical limitations — like the number of hotel rooms — limiting profits,” NBC reported.
“Crypto allows Trump to create “assets out of thin air,” she said. ‘It really just sort of scales up the possibilities here.’”
Social media
The president-elect has more than half of his net worth in shares of Trump Media, the company that owns Truth Social — which poses many concerns for ethics experts.
One major concern is that the next administration has great oversight, with Trump’s pick to head up the Federal Communications Commission vowing to “smash the censorship cartel” on social media.
It also gives opportunities to people to influence Trump by buying stock.
“They could inflate it, but then they could also threaten to sell all of that stock at the same time, cratering the value and destroying this net worth,” said Libowitz. “Here is a new nightmare scenario that no previous president has had to deal with.”
Licensing
Deals to use the Trump name on guitars, Bibles, fragrances and money other brands are causing great concern.
“We wouldn’t even let his name go on a public school in Texas — I still remember that,” said the lawyer Painter about Bush. “Never would we let Bush’s name be used for branding to sell anything, anywhere. Same rule in the Obama administration.”