Trump's Jet Envy outrage hides a much bigger problem

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At the Capitol Hill, more and more legislators of both parties are supporting the ban on shares in office. But as far as the white house is concerned – the initials of the president are literally a share kicker.

The fact that President Donald Trump has a family business that is currently being managed by his son Eric feels almost normal at this point, but the potential gift of a 747 of Qatar, so that he has renewed questions about the legality and peculiarity of a president as Air Force One, which is given things from abroad.

The plane would be for official use, but the questions come at a time when the companies of the Trump family already expanded their impression in overseas.

One reason why the idea of ​​Qatar gives the Pentagon a jet for Trump who receives so much attention as president is that even many Republicans are not willing to support the idea.

“I think we should have a big, beautiful jet, but I want it to be produced in the United States of America,” said Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri and was released on Wednesday about CNN's “Inside Politics”.

GOP legislators who control the Capitol Hill don't really like the idea of ​​Qatar's gift, but at the moment they seem ready to accept. The Trump administration insists that the gift about a memo from the former lobbyist for Qatar and the current US general attorney Pam Bondi would be a joke.

Although Hawley did not agree with Trump, Qatar was more critical and argued that there were more valuable things that the country could do than give the US president a jet.

“Like to stop, to accommodate Islamic jihadists terrorists who try to kill Americans wherever they can get them into their hands,” he said, perhaps referring to Hamas. “That would probably be at the top of my list.”

Such criticisms could be extended to Saudi Arabia, whose crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman had occupied the murder of the Washington Post Columnist, Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Now the Saudi leader has welcomed Trump triumphantly, whose US golf courses organize tournaments for the LIV tour in Saudi ownership.

Trump justified the jet as “limming”, a golf term for a free putt.

Skery scratches, golf courses and cryptocurrency

As CNN examines, Trump has a portfolio of real estate transactions on the Middle East and in the countries that he visited during the first major trip abroad of his second term.

Trump's son Eric is now heading the family business, which works on plans for developments and golf courses in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and in Qatar. The CNN report also finds that an investment company supported by Emirati agreed to use a cryptocurrency that Trump's crypto company started for an investment of $ 2 billion in crypto-excchange bony. The company World Liberty Financial linked by Trump was fought by Zach Witkoff, the son of Steve Witkoff, Trump's special representative in the Middle East.

The New York Times reported this week that an obscure Chinese company announced investments in a Meme coin, which Trump benefits. Trump has offered invitations to a special appearance in his Virginia Golf Club and a tour in the White House for people who invest the most and attract the attention of foreign investors.

According to Eswar Prasad, an economist at Cornell University, the participation of the Trump family should trigger alarm bells with crypto.

“You have created a government official, no less than the leader of the free world, essentially created a widespread vehicle for financial speculations and then uses his office to promote it and benefit directly from it,” said Prasad on Wednesday with Jake Tapper from CNN.

With little supervision of a congress that was checked by Republicans and Trump for the financial supervisory authorities, Prasad said that there are only a few checks about what Trump can do.

“The question is who will stop Trump and his family from it, and as President of the United States, it is not obvious that there is someone who can stop him,” said Prasad.

Hawley pointed out Trump's announcement of business for abroad to invest in the USA as a trade.

“I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought,” said Hawley. “I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?”

“It is great that these other countries now want to come back to America,” added Hawley and argues that Trump may do what is in the interest of the country, e.g.

One person who seems to believe that Trump can be bought is the democratic senator Chris Murphy.

“The president is in the Middle East to collect tribute from these countries,” said Murphy on Tuesday evening CNN. “He went to Qatar, the Emiratis and the Saudis because they are ready to pay him money.”

“To be honest, it is ridiculous that everyone in this room even suggests that President Trump does something to his own advantage,” the Press spokesman for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters last week to prepare for the trip.

One of the closest employees of Trump, Elon Musk, was able to combine a personal business with government transactions when he co -called for the trip.

Musk performed on a stage with Saudi Communication and Information Minister Abdullah Alswaha and thanked the kingdom for the approval of Starlink, the internet provider who belonged to his company SpaceX. Alswaha pointed out that Tesla Robotaxis could soon come to the kingdom after the car manufacturer started selling vehicles there in April, according to CNN.

In the United States, democratic legislators called for a musk corruption examination and cited a report on Washington Post this month that Lesotho Starlink expressly approved as part of his strategy for negotiating tariffs with Trump.

Hawley was a leader in Capitol Hill to demand new restrictions on how the legislator can benefit from her positions. He wrote the Pelosi Act, which is too short to prevent selected managers from owning securities and investments and nod in stock transactions, which were made by the husband of the former spokesman of the House spokesman Nancy Pelosi, Paul, a risk capitalist.

Legislation would prevent legislators to hold or sell a inventory outside of a blind trust in office. The spokesman for the house, Mike Johnson, approved the idea this week.

But it would not affect Trump, whose family business seems to be booming.