[ad_1]
Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media at a hotel in Washington after attending a hearing at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in federal court on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 in Washington.
Susan Walsh | AP
Former President Donald Trump indicated Wednesday that he intends to keep a stake in his business empire if elected to a second term in November. He also defended millions of dollars in hotels and real estate obtained from foreign governments during his presidency.
“If you have a hotel and someone comes from China, it’s a small amount of money,” Trump said during a town hall event broadcast on Fox News. “I was doing a service for that. People were staying in these huge hotels, beautiful hotels, staying there, paying money. To receive $8 million for doing nothing. “You can’t,” he added.
The comment was part of Trump’s response to a direct question about whether he would commit to exiting his private real estate and hotel companies if he won a second term.
The question referred to a recent report by House Democrats that found that Trump’s companies received nearly $8 million in compensation from 20 foreign governments, including China and Saudi Arabia, during the first two years of his presidency. also mentioned.
Instead of directly answering whether he would sell, Trump claimed that George Washington, the first president of the United States, had set a precedent for running a private business while serving as president.
WASHINGTON — “There’s a lot of money, but people don’t know that,” Trump claimed — “the business desk and the country desk were right next to each other.”
President Trump has made similar claims about George Washington in the past. PolitiFact in 2019 revealed that there were “conflicting interpretations” of Washington’s business activities during the administration.
President Trump’s comments Wednesday night in Des Moines, just five days before the Iowa caucuses, raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and corruption if he replaces President Joe Biden as America’s most prominent public official. This suggests that he intends to shake off concerns once again.
In 2017, ethics experts and government officials criticized the then-newly elected Trump for not exiting the real estate and hotel company that bears his name. This choice broke with tradition followed by all other modern presidents.
Wednesday’s town hall began at the same time as President Trump’s top two remaining main rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador. Nikki Haley took the stage at the last Republican presidential debate before the first election of the cycle.
Mr. Trump has attempted to reduce the impact of each debate by absenting himself from all five Republican debates and at the same time campaigning and making media appearances to program opposition.
[ad_2]
Source link
