Trump's Spectacularly Corrupt Crypto-for-Chips Deal With the U.A.E. Will Compromise National Security But Enrich Him

Sep 15, 2025

The second Trump administration will be remembered for some of the most spectacular official corruption in our nation’s history—and that’s saying something. The latest story is an exposé of a corrupt deal in which Trump’s Middle East envoy served as the go-between for an Arab sheikh to pump billions into the Trump family fortune.

The New York Times has the scoop:

Over the past few months, [Steve] Witkoff and Sheikh Tahnoon had become both diplomatic allies and business partners, testing the limits of ethics rules while enriching the president, his family and his inner circle, according to an investigation by The New York Times. …
In May, Mr. Witkoff’s son Zach announced the first of the deals at a conference in Dubai. One of Sheikh Tahnoon’s investment firms would deposit $2 billion into World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency start-up founded by the Witkoffs and Trumps.
Two weeks later, the White House agreed to allow the U.A.E. access to hundreds of thousands of the world’s most advanced and scarce computer chips, a crucial tool in the high-stakes race to dominate artificial intelligence. Many of the chips would go to G42, a sprawling technology firm controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, despite national security concerns that the chips could be shared with China. …
Steve Witkoff advocated to give the Emirates access to the chips at the same time that his and Mr. Trump’s family business was landing the crypto investment, despite an ethics rule intended to prohibit officials from participating in matters that could benefit themselves or their relatives.
A senior executive based in the U.A.E. worked simultaneously for World Liberty and Sheikh Tahnoon’s G42, creating a link between the two companies as the Emiratis were pushing to gain access to A.I. chips.

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.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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