Where in the World are Donald Trump’s Interests?
An Investigation
Let’s say you had — I don’t know, pick a random number — $650 million in debt. Various lenders, at least one of which is foreign, could call in some of those checks and you would have to pay out. Maybe from your corporation’s money, maybe from your personal bank account.
Let’s also say you had somewhere around — just picking a number from a hat — 120 business deals in place or in the works in foreign countries. You’re bound by contracts with those companies, they’re paying you money, maybe you’re on the hook to them too.
Then, say you become President of the United States of America.
Would you be able to make clear-headed decisions about what’s in the American people’s best interest when negotiating with those lenders or dealing with those business partners?
That’s the question that every single voter needs to ask themselves, because these aren’t made up numbers (please, I’m a researcher). Donald Trump has at least $650 million in liabilities from various mortgages and loans from lenders in the United States and around the world. And Trump himself just recently bragged that he has 120 international deals in place or in the works.
(As an aside, those numbers are just estimates because he won’t release the financial documents — including tax returns — that would give us a full picture of his finances.)
So before voters decide whether or not to make Trump our Commander in Chief and number-one diplomat, they need to consider if he would put their interests above his own.
Richard Painter, a law professor and the White House’s chief ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, has said that Trump’s businesses — with its private, opaque nature and ties to foreign interests — would create “unprecedented conflicts of interest” for him as president. It might shock you to see the DNC agreeing with a Bush administration official, but Painter is clearly correct here. Donald Trump has called himself the “King of Debt” — think about what that means.
Newsweek’s Kurt Eichenwald took it a step further, writing that if Trump became President “almost every foreign policy decision he makes will raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires.”
“I’m the King of Debt. I’m great with debt… I’ve made a fortune by using debt.” –Donald Trump
A portion of those hundreds of millions of dollars in debt is personally guaranteed by Trump himself — a creditor, angry about a change in banking policy or U.S. military actions abroad, could call in that loan and force Trump to pay out of his own pocket. The New York Times found that Trump is personally liable for as much as $26 million of his land lease at 40 Wall Street. And that’s just one property.
But who holds this debt? And who are his foreign partners? Just taking a look at what we do know, I’m sure it’s not surprising to read that not all of Trump’s partners are on the up-and-up.
There’s the Azerbaijani Transport Minister’s son, who was at one point a registered foreign lobbyist in Washington, DC. His profits have been tied to sweetheart deals with his father’s agency (Foreign Policy has dubbed them “The Corleones of the Caspian”), and his father has allegedly laundered money for the Iranian military.
In India, Trump’s partners are the subject of two investigations as to whether they properly obtained the land on which the new tower is built. Trump also partnered with a developer that has since fallen out of the government’s favor on a complex in Turkey. Our relationships with allies like India and Turkey are some of our most important national security interests and when Trump’s own financial interest contradict ours as a country, how would Trump be able to put American interests above his own?
There’s the tower at 1290 Avenue of the Americas—which Trump has a partnership investment in — that was financed through loans from domestic and foreign banks, including the Bank of China. His personal financial disclosure also lists him as the president of a number of corporate entities that appear to be tied to development in China. To call that a disconnect for someone who constantly talks about how China is stealing American jobs is an understatement.
“Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets… We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia.” –Donald Trump Jr.
And then, there’s Russia. For over 25 years, Donald Trump has pursued lucrative deals in Russia and with developers closely tied to powerful Russian interests. In 1987, he met with the Soviet Ambassador at Trump Tower before being invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to Moscow to negotiate a hotel deal with the government. His dealings with Russian officials and oligarchs continued over the years. Just three years ago, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin paid Trump millions to bring his Miss Universe pageant to Moscow — and they reportedly signed a deal to explore real estate opportunities together in Moscow.
Trump also formed a close partnership with the Bayrock Group, a small development firm located in Trump Tower that had deep financial ties to Russia. Trump developed a relationship with Bayrock’s Felix Sater, who has close ties to the Russian mob. Even after Sater’s criminal ties came to light, he was named a Senior Advisor to Trump. He was also Trump’s choice to play tour guide for his adult children when they traveled to Moscow.
Just a few weeks ago, Sater donated $5,400 to Trump’s presidential campaign.
“I like money. I’m very greedy. I’m a greedy person.” –Donald Trump
Voters, ask yourselves: Can you trust a man who has never put someone else’s interests ahead of his own to make the best deals for America when millions of his own dollars are on the line?
Even if you believe that Trump is a great negotiator, do you believe he’ll use that power for our collective good when it goes against his own bottom line?
In 55 days, we’ll decide who will sit behind this desk for the next four years. The person who will pick up the phone and make the tough calls to foreign leaders. Who will decide where our military resources go. Who will make decisions that could send our sons and daughters to war.
We’ll pick that person based on how we think they’ll make those decisions. What they’ll consider when they turn them over in their mind.
Everything we know about Donald Trump suggests that when there’s tension between what’s best for the country and what’s best for Trump, he’s going to look out for himself. And based on what we know, there would be a LOT of tension if he became president. No matter if the Trump Organization is run by the Trump children or placed in a blind trust, Donald Trump is already aware of his foreign business partners and creditors.
A vote for Donald Trump this fall is a vote that would take all that debt, recklessness, and uncertainty and put it in one of the most powerful seats in the world.
And I don’t care what side of the aisle you’re on — as Americans, that’s something we can’t afford.
