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1/ Hats off to the New York Times, which published its latest installment in its tax series today. In my eyes, this is the most impressive follow-up they have done to the original story. I’ll be sharing additional thoughts here over the next hour or so. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/10/us/trump-properties-swamp.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
2/ The story describes a waterfall of potential conflicts of interest, connected to money coming into Trump's hotels and clubs from various tycoons, lobbyists, foreign governments and so on. This type of reporting is extremely difficult. Let me explain why.
3/ According to federal guidelines, the president has to disclose who pays him money directly, even if the payments are as small as a couple hundred bucks. But the rules do not require the president to disclose payments that flow through his companies. It's a massive loophole.
4/ Since Trump holds his business empire through a web of shell companies, the loophole allows him to avoid disclosing much about who is actually paying him. He doesn't have to disclose tenants in his buildings, nor guests at his hotels, nor members of his clubs.
5/ Since the Trump Organization isn't disclosing who is paying, the way that information becomes public is through investigative reporting. For instance, @Z_Everson has devoted himself to tracking who spends money at Trump's hotel in DC. Follow him -- he's absolutely amazing.
6/ I spent a lot of time figuring out who pays Trump rent via his commercial buildings. In my book, "White House, Inc." I list over 150 tenants paying an estimated $177M a year in rent. I laid out a dizzying set of conflicts this presents in this excerpt. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/how-everyone-is-quietly-lining-trumps-pockets
7/ One missing part of the puzzle has been who is paying Trump via his golf properties and clubs. We know the potential conflicts there are huge, because the USA Today did some great reporting on this in 2017. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/09/06/trump-gets-millions-golf-members-ceos-and-lobbyists-get-access-president/632505001/
8/ This new story from the NYT does a fantastic job of expanding what we know about who is paying Trump via those properties. Part of the reason the Times was able to do this is that they got membership rosters for Mar-a-Lago and Trump Bedminster. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/10/us/trump-properties-swamp.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
9/ But part of why they could do this is dogged reporting. They must have looked through an endless stream of posts social media posts, then figured out who the people in the photos were, then figured out what business those people had before the government. That's grueling work.
10/ It's no wonder the story has 10 names on the byline and another 9 at the bottom, for people who contributed research or reporting.
Equally impressive: The NYT reports new details about President Trump's personal involvement in his businesses -- after he took office.
Equally impressive: The NYT reports new details about President Trump's personal involvement in his businesses -- after he took office.
11/ The Times reports that Trump wants to know about the operations ("He would quiz managers on the banquet business.")
He wants to know about capacity ("Are we full on the outside patio?")
And he wants to weigh in on the personnel. ("He told Eric to have a manager fired.")
He wants to know about capacity ("Are we full on the outside patio?")
And he wants to weigh in on the personnel. ("He told Eric to have a manager fired.")
12/ Trump didn't get out of business. He held onto ownership and delegated the day-to-day tasks to his kids. And, according to this reporting, he kept a hand in the operations as well.
It reminds me of a remarkable quote from Trump, uttered 9 days before he took office.
It reminds me of a remarkable quote from Trump, uttered 9 days before he took office.
13/ "I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don't like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to. I would be the only one that would be able to do that." -Donald Trump, January 11, 2017.
23:30 in: https://www.c-span.org/video/?421482-1/president-elect-donald-trump-election-year-hacking-i-russia
23:30 in: https://www.c-span.org/video/?421482-1/president-elect-donald-trump-election-year-hacking-i-russia
14/ That's the quote on the back cover of my new book, "White House, Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business."
The NYT story is GREAT. Read it here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/10/us/trump-properties-swamp.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
If you're interested in more, please pick up my book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623950/white-house-inc-by-dan-alexander/
The NYT story is GREAT. Read it here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/10/us/trump-properties-swamp.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
If you're interested in more, please pick up my book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623950/white-house-inc-by-dan-alexander/
