Fox & Friends exudes millions of right-wing Americans' homes every morning, usually not considered a place where Donald Trump faces a tough problem. The “&Friends” in the title of the show gives this.
But on Monday morning, the show’s co-host Brian Kilmeade submitted the billion-dollar issue to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. It is reported that Trump has decided to accept gifts from a $400 million luxury plane from the Qatar government, an oil country that the president once condemned as "a funding for terrorism."
"Are you worried that if they give us something like this, they want to pay back?" Kilmead asked.
Leavitt walked away from the question, saying that Qataris knew that Trump “worked only with the interests of the American public.” Despite her protests, the core of the problem is still thinking about everyone now: Where is the quirk?
Avoiding Quid pro Quo (in exchange for the reward of things or in layman's terms, you'll grab my back, I'll scratch my own grace - has been the cornerstone of American governance, especially in foreign policy, for decades. This even informed Trump's first president when the Trump Organization (his family business) organized all foreign transactions during this period.
Now he returns to the Oval Office, all these guardrails that separate individuals from public benefits seem to be discarded. The Trump Organization has exploded in the Gulf region under the management of his third child Eric since Trump's second presidential election in November.
In Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), plans for Trump Tower and golf resorts surge. It is needed to have a bold commentator that suggests that the president visiting those wealthy oil countries starting Tuesday is purely accidental.
Of all the deals in the pipeline, the bravest is the proposed gift of the $400 million "Palace of Sky" by the Katari government. It is hard to imagine a more obvious violation of the Constitution’s Emerl clause, which prohibits federal officials, including the president, from accepting high-value gifts without Congress’ approval.
Republican senators from Rand Paul, Kentucky summed up this. "It's not like flying," he said. "We're talking about the whole $400 million aircraft."
Trump’s approach to inconvenient methods such as moral code and rule of law in his second term was to fire the leaders of major federal agencies, to perform experienced civil servants who promised the U.S. Constitution, and to replace them with a spell dedicated to making America’s loyalists great again (Maga). From Trump's point of view, this looks easy to solve. But for anyone who is following Quid Pro Quo, it just exacerbates the problem.
According to ABC News, Trump's U.S. Attorney General and the country's top law enforcement officer Pam Bondi has conducted a legal analysis of the Qatar aircraft gift, which will be "legally allowed." all is well. But, as the 2022 World Cup football game progresses, Bondi has worked as a lobbyist for the Katari Gourdment, earning $115,000 a month handsome?
Eric Trump has Quid Pro for the gift of the Boeing 747-8 jetliner through a complex link to commercial deals created at lightning speed through the Bay Area. The first foreign deal the Trump organization has received since returning to the Oval Office in January was in Qatar.
The deal was to build a luxury resort and 18-hole golf course outside the Catari capital Doha. It will be called Trump International Golf Club and Villa.
The plan will be formulated by Qatari Diar, a Qatari company that happens to be owned by the Katari government. The real estate business was established by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund company and has a government minister chaired the board of directors.
This seems to be a violation of Trump's second promise - already much weaker than his moral commitment in President Trump 1.0, that family businesses will not involve foreign government deals. The Trump Organization insists that the partnership was arranged with Saudi company DAR Global and Kathari. But this only raises another problem: DAR Global has a close ties to the Saudi royal family.
This is not enough, there is also encryption factor. Trump's adventure in cryptocurrency business is another worm's can, with its numerous moral puzzles attached to it, so much so that it will keep researchers busy for years of conflict of interest.
It can be argued that while the president uses his executive power to enhance the fledgling digital payment system and eliminate regulatory restrictions placed on its way, the Trump family shines on cryptocurrencies.
Where is the largest crypto deal in the Trump family? In the Gulf countries.
A fund run by the UAE royal family recently invested $20 billion in cryptocurrency exchanges. The fund passes funds to tracking dollars through a new cryptocurrency called stablecoin.
The stablecoin is issued by World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company. It belongs to the Trump family.
The front page of the World Free Finance website invites visitors to “get to know our team, passionate thoughts shape the future of finance.” Under the brilliant photo of the 47th President, "Donald J Trump, chief crypto defense lawyer."