A recent New York Times investigation revealed that at the same time that Trump officials were negotiating a deal to sell advanced U.S. AI chips to the United Arab Emirates, a government-backed Emirati firm were committing $2 billion to a venture via World Liberty Financial, a crypto company co-founded by the Trumps and the family of his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff.
The overlap of people, money, and timing makes it hard to see these as anything but connected and coordinated. As our Executive Watch brief put it:
Donald Trump campaigned as the populist champion of the regular guy against “the elites.” Yet his actual administration has been entirely about building a giant gilded ballroom at the White House where rich guys in tuxedos can trade favors, and holding meetings on mega yachts with Arab sheikhs so he can line his own pockets.
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