{"id":118974,"date":"2026-02-01T22:49:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/?post_type=news&#038;p=118974"},"modified":"2026-02-01T22:49:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T03:49:59","slug":"trumps-jaw-dropping-conflict-of-interest-with-the-uae-defies-common-sense","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/news\/trumps-jaw-dropping-conflict-of-interest-with-the-uae-defies-common-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s \u2018Jaw-dropping\u2019 Conflict of Interest with the UAE Defies Common Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 The Wall Street Journal <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/politics\/policy\/spy-sheikh-secret-stake-trump-crypto-tahnoon-ea4d97e8?st=v5AMoL&amp;reflink=article_copyURL_share\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">revealed new details<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on an unprecedented business deal where foreign leaders from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) bought a massive stake in Trump\u2019s World Liberty crypto company, a few months before the Trump administration approved the sale of America\u2019s most advanced AI chips to the UAE. These chips were previously withheld from the UAE due to national security concerns. But since then, the deal with UAE royals has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars directly into the pockets of the Trump family.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In response to this news, <\/span><b>Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The jaw-dropping Wall Street Journal report reveals that through a complicated, secret deal, a United Arab Emirates (UAE)-linked company effectively deposited $187 million directly into the bank accounts of the president and his family, and is now primary business partner with the president\u2019s family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThere\u2019s no precedent for this in American history. This deal contravenes the Constitution\u2019s Emoluments Clause, the most basic ethics standards and plain common sense. It fundamentally and unavoidably compromises U.S. foreign policy, raising the question of whether Trump is conducting foreign policy to advance American interests or his own bottom line.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe White House says the deal poses no conflict of interest for the president. The administration is making a regular practice of asking the American public not to see what is right before their eyes. The American people aren\u2019t having it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAnd, if the administration actually believed there was no conflict, why was the deal kept secret?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAmong other matters involving the UAE, the Trump administration has approved the sale of advanced AI chips to the country, despite fears from national security officials that the technology may be diverted to China. Perhaps the administration would have reached the same decision authorizing the chip sale in the absence of the president\u2019s business arrangement, but we\u2019ll never know \u2013 precisely why business deals like this should not exist.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n ","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-118974","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","tax_topic-making-government-work","tax_supertag-taking-on-trump","tax_news-press"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Trump\u2019s \u2018Jaw-dropping\u2019 Conflict of Interest with the UAE Defies Common Sense - Public Citizen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citizen.org\/news\/trumps-jaw-dropping-conflict-of-interest-with-the-uae-defies-common-sense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s \u2018Jaw-dropping\u2019 Conflict of Interest with the UAE Defies Common Sense - 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