Trump returned to the White House twice as rich. It’s raising concerns.
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Why are Venezuelans feeling betrayed by Trump?
Good morning. It's Friday, February 7th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, why Venezuelans once loyal to Trump are feeling betrayed, the Big Easy gets ready for the weekend's big game, and how police are trying to crack the case of 100,000 stolen eggs.
What conflicts of interest are associated with Trump's presidency?
But first, a look at how President Trump's potential for conflicts of interest has changed and expanded since his first term. In 2020, a New York Times investigation found over 200 companies, interest groups and governments patronized Trump businesses while reaping benefits from Trump's administration or Trump personally. The Washington Post reported one example. T-Mobile spent $195,000 at Trump's D.C. hotel while seeking federal approval of a merger with Sprint. The merger was ultimately approved, and the Justice Department and FCC declined to comment on it to the Post. Critics argue that Trump's refusal to disentangle himself from his businesses while president not only creates ethical murkiness, but in cases involving foreign governments as clients, violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits government officials from accepting money from foreign entities. Now, in his second term, Trump's money-making ventures have only expanded.
How has Trump's wealth changed since his first term?
In fact, Bloomberg reports that Trump returned to the White House more than twice as rich as he was before. Bloomberg reporter Annie Massa told us that ethics experts are even more concerned this time around.
What are the implications of Trump's business interests on his presidency?
While there have absolutely been presidents with business interests before, the types of businesses, the regulatory flux that some of those businesses are under right now, and the scope, the actual dollar value of the assets in question are unmatched in any other historical context.
For example, Trump now has a massive stake in a media company, Trump Media, which owns Truth Social.
It's a huge part of his net worth, worth billions of dollars, and it's a publicly traded company. But the reason that we're paying such close attention to that company is because it does absolutely have a huge impact on the personal wealth, personal net worth of the president.
Trump and his family also have multiple cryptocurrency ventures.
This is super important because crypto, even though it's been around for a while now, there are still many regulations related to it that are up in the air.
Trump has vowed to be a, quote, crypto president. And just this week, according to The New York Times, there were major staffing changes ordered at the SEC that signal a possible rollback in crypto regulations. Just before the inauguration, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump launched their own crypto tokens, whose market valuations skyrocketed, generating potentially billions of dollars for the family and their affiliates. And even though the price of those coins has since crashed, losing money for the average unsophisticated trader, Trump is continuing to make money off of transaction fees. Further complicating matters are the people in Trump's inner circle. To name a few, his right-hand man, Elon Musk, owns six companies and has business contracts with the federal government. The White House says Musk will be responsible for self-managing those conflicts of interest. Trump's daughter-in-law, Laura Trump, just landed a job hosting her own show for Fox News.
And the president's nominee to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has a side hustle selling Trump T-shirts and children's books. But that's not all.
Mr. Patel has been sitting on the board of Trump's media company, and he is actually not the only Trump nominee who has been on that board.
Linda McMahon, Trump's pick for education secretary, is also on that board. She and Patel were recently gifted thousands of shares of Trump media stock. at a paper value of around $800,000. Patel's role with Trump Media is particularly concerning because he has vowed in the past to go after media companies if confirmed as FBI director.
That could pose a potential big problem because it would align almost his financial incentives with the president of the United States, hypothetically. And the reason that would be a problem is potentially that could alter the course of what this agency would be willing to investigate or not.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why are Venezuelans feeling betrayed by Trump?
0:05–0:34
2
What conflicts of interest are associated with Trump's presidency?
0:34–1:34
3
How has Trump's wealth changed since his first term?
1:34–1:46
4
What are the implications of Trump's business interests on his presidency?
1:46–5:26
5
How is the Venezuelan community responding to policy changes?
5:26
6
What are the ethical concerns regarding Trump's administration appointments?
5:01
7
How are Trump's financial interests intertwined with his political actions?
2:08–14:42
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Apple News Today
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