Trump’s children take in millions overseas as president slams Biden’s son

[GMDino]

Most of us sane people, people not conned by the lifetime grifter, already see the hypocrisy in the Trump's accusing the Bidens of making money off the family name.

This piece lasys it out quite well though.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-10/trumps-adult-children-do-business-overseas-as-president-slams-biden.

Quote:Eric Trump sounded shocked that Hunter Biden hadn’t drawn more criticism for his lucrative business deals in Ukraine and China while his father, Joe Biden, was vice president.



“Can you imagine if I took 3 cents from the Ukraine or 4 cents from China?” President Trump’s second-oldest son asked in a recent Fox Business appearance.


Eric Trump and his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., run the Trump Organization, which conducts business — and takes in tens of millions of dollars annually — around the globe and is still owned by the president. The company is forging ahead with projects in Ireland, India, Indonesia and Uruguay, and is licensing the Trump name in such turbulent areas as Turkey and the Philippines.


Their sister Ivanka is a senior advisor to the president. She kept her international fashion business going for 18 months after she was given a loosely defined White House portfolio that includes interacting with heads of state and working with domestic and international corporate chiefs on economic programs.

On the same day Trump and his daughter dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in April 2017, China awarded her three preliminary trademark approvals for jewelry, handbags and spa services. In all, she has obtained more than a dozen Chinese trademarks since entering the White House, ensuring her access to the world’s second-largest economy if she goes back into business.


Time and again, Trump’s children have blurred the lines of family, nation and business — essentially the charge the president makes against the Bidens as he battles a House impeachment inquiry focused on whether he improperly pushed Ukraine to investigate his political rivals for what he claims were shady dealings.


Trump’s children “appear to people all over the world to be his bagmen,” said Richard Painter, who served as White House ethics czar under President George W. Bush. “This is the Trump business empire. It’s owned by Donald Trump, the president, and they are managing it for him and collecting business on his behalf.”


While Hunter Biden’s overseas deals may have embarrassed his father, now a Democratic presidential candidate, no evidence has emerged to suggest wrongdoing by the former vice president.


“There’s no substantiated or credible allegation that I know of that Hunter Biden’s work was personally financially benefiting Joe Biden,” said Robert Maguire, research director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit that is suing Trump and alleges he is illegally profiting from the presidency.


“With President Trump, we know his two adult sons are going around the country and the world to make money for a company that President Trump himself personally profits from, that he also personally promotes using the White House,” he added.


The White House declined to comment for this story and the Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment. But family members have angrily denied profiting from Trump’s time in the Oval Office.


During an August business trip to Indonesia, Trump Jr. dismissed reporters’ questions about potential conflicts of interest as “totally asinine.”


Eric Trump said Thursday at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit in New York that his family would go “down as one of the few families that have actually made a tremendous sacrifice.”


“We’ve lost a lot of money based on the fact that we don’t do any deals, that we’re sitting silent” while his father is in office, he said.


Since the company is privately held, that’s impossible to prove. In the meantime, both brothers sometimes travel on Air Force One — Eric was aboard Thursday when the president flew to a rally in Minneapolis — and in June, both brothers dined at Buckingham Palace in London during Trump’s state visit. Both also spoke at Trump’s reelection kickoff rally in June in Orlando, Fla., and Trump Jr. is a leading surrogate at campaign events.


After he was elected, Trump pledged not to seek new foreign business deals while president.

He never divested from the Trump Organization, however, which had licensed his name for real estate developments around the globe.


Trump owns more than $130 million in assets across 30 countries under the trust controlled by his children, according to an analysis of his financial disclosures by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group in Washington that tracks money in politics.


The assets generated more than $100 million in income in 2017 and 2018 combined, according to the group, which calls those estimates conservative because the president has only disclosed ranges, not specific figures, in public.


While some Trump properties have “taken a nosedive” since he became president, according to Anna Massoglia, a researcher for the center, others — such as his hotel in Washington — have benefited from foreign interests that moved events to his properties after Trump took office.


Trump’s children have also looked to expand their overseas holdings, she said.


“In many cases, they’ve gone back and, to some extent, reactivated or given new life to long-dormant projects,” Massoglia said, citing projects in the Dominican Republic, Indonesia and Uruguay that are in various phases of development.


“Trump’s travels or his family’s travels across the world have appeared exploratory” toward “the possibility of new business and setting themselves up to expand following the presidency,” she added.


The Trump Organization, as part of a stated commitment to return foreign profits to the U.S. Treasury, said it sent $191,538 to the government last year. But the company has not explained how it calculated that figure.

Since Trump refuses to release his tax returns and the company keeps much of its financial data confidential, it’s unclear whether he is following the ethics rules he set for himself after the election. Even if he is, some of the largest gaps in the self-imposed guidelines involve foreign projects.


The projects can benefit from local zoning or infrastructure improvements, or even when U.S. military crews are billeted there. The House Oversight Committee is investigating why the Pentagon has spent nearly $200,000 at Trump Turnberry golf resort in Scotland since 2017 for overnight stays and other expenses during refueling stops in nearby Glasgow.


The Trumps also can market existing projects under the guidelines, and actively sell luxury condos to foreign buyers, among other investments.


Last month, Trump Jr. hosted about 100 people in New York who had purchased homes in Trump-branded luxury towers near New Delhi. Visitors flew over Manhattan in helicopters, dined at Trump’s hotel and listened to a “fireside chat” between Trump Jr. and an Indian business partner.


Trump Jr. repeatedly told Indian reporters of his desire to do more business in India and other countries once his father leaves office.


“I’d love to be in the market right now,” he told CNBC-TV18, a major channel for business news in India. “But there is a bigger picture and there’s an important picture for us, for our country, for what my father is doing, and for Americans. There will be time to be back in that later on, and I’m sure those relationships will remain.”


Trump Jr. told Mint, an Indian business publication, that India would be “a market that we would be very interested [in], post-politics” and that “it would be easier for me to get going in India because of the relationships we have built up in the last decade.”


Those relationships predated Trump’s presidency — the company laid the groundwork for the developments years before he won in 2016 — but they have been strengthened from the White House.


Last month, President Trump lavished praise on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held an unusual joint rally with him in Houston, gushing about the size of the crowds that packed the stadium.


“My personal chemistry [with Modi] is as good as it can get,” the president said two days later while discussing trade with the Indian leader on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York.


In 2017, the Trumps marketed another project in India — this one in Mumbai — with a picture of President Trump, calling it “an opportunity worth its weight in gold” to be associated with “celebrity & POTUS Donald Trump’s Trump Organisation,” using the abbreviation for president of the United States and the British spelling for organization.


After the Wall Street Journal raised questions about the materials, the Trump Organization said they were sent by an outside firm without its authorization.


When they took over the Trump organization, Trump Jr. and Eric Trump agreed to stay away from their father’s official duties, in part to signal foreign governments or corporate leaders that they could not curry favor with the White House by doing business with the president’s sons.


But that line seems murky at best.


In January, Eric Trump boasted of his father’s local political connections while reviewing construction of a Trump-branded property in Uruguay.


Speaking to an Argentine website, he cited his father’s “deep respect” for Argentine President Mauricio Macri — Trump did business with Macri’s father in the 1980s — and discussed where he would like to invest when Trump leaves office.


“Now we have other major international brands, which are being introduced in the market, and that is very good for the region,” he said. “Without a doubt, we have raised the standards. Our goal is to have the standards of New York.”


In August, Trump Jr. attended “pre-launch” events in Indonesia for two resorts being developed with a partner who founded one of the country’s political parties and remains highly active, with a daughter seeking a cabinet position there.


Indonesia, like many countries where the Trump sons do business, is negotiating with the Trump administration in Washington over trade policy. The government in Jakarta is seeking to avoid the tariffs the White House has imposed on other countries with a trade surplus.


Trump Jr. dismissed questions about a potential conflict of interest, telling reporters that his father “wouldn’t make decisions on a country based on a real estate deal.”


“I would like to shut down that nonsense right here,” he said.

[Dill]

(10-11-2019, 10:45 AM)GMDino Wrote: Most of us sane people, people not conned by the lifetime grifter, already see the hypocrisy in the Trump's accusing the Bidens of making money off the family name.

This piece lasys it out quite well though.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-10/trumps-adult-children-do-business-overseas-as-president-slams-biden.

"Both sides" can't do it.

Dems are held to the old normal. Trump is held to the "new normal"--the one which sets him and family above the law.

Still surprised a bigger fuss wasn't raised over Kushner's use of US power to shake down Qatar; once they buy the Kushners' 666 albatross, embargo is over.

Maybe more will come out about that as Trump's inner circle peels away and turns on him.

[ballsofsteel]

Some people on the air was raising the question did Hunter Biden get the job with that Ukraine gas company because his father was vice president. Hunter was also working for a company from China. The answer to this question is a resounding yes, duh. Its not what you know its who you know.

[SunsetBengal]

There is a Yuge difference between the what the Trump kids do, and what those slimy Bidens did. The Trump kids have worked in their jobs, ever since they were able to, in the company that Donald built long before he ever seriously considered running for POTUS. Joe Biden used our tax money to leverage things in Hunter's favor. This AFTER he was expelled from the Navy for drug abuse..

[BmorePat87]

(10-14-2019, 08:14 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: There is a Yuge difference between the what the Trump kids do, and what those slimy Bidens did.  The Trump kids have worked in their jobs, ever since they were able to, in the company that Donald built long before he ever seriously considered running for POTUS.  Joe Biden used our tax money to leverage things in Hunter's favor.  This AFTER he was expelled from the Navy for drug abuse..

I thought the difference was that none of Biden's kids were made senior White House advisors and tasked with handling foreign policy (despite zero experience) after being denied top secret security clearances. 

[Benton]

Of course the bidens are making money off their family name.

Every family that goes to the white house finds itself with consultant and lobbyist positions. It's about who you know. I don't like that,, but that's never really something you can skirt. Even basic 9-5 jobs are that way.

The difference is the trump family is currently impacting foreign policy to benefit themselves individually. It's mind boggling that's been allowed so blatantly

[BrownAssClown]

(10-14-2019, 08:14 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: There is a Yuge difference between the what the Trump kids do, and what those slimy Bidens did.  The Trump kids have worked in their jobs, ever since they were able to, in the company that Donald built long before he ever seriously considered running for POTUS.  Joe Biden used our tax money to leverage things in Hunter's favor.  This AFTER he was expelled from the Navy for drug abuse..

Oh...Please tell me more. I would like to know how them Russian adoptions work. I hear Trump Jr. is an expert on the subject.

[fredtoast]

(10-14-2019, 08:14 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote:  Joe Biden used our tax money to leverage things in Hunter's favor. 

No he did not.

You don't have a clue what really happened.

Biden worked with our allies in the EU and the World Bank to rid Ukrain of corruption.  The funny thing about it is that if Joe Biden had taken NO ACTION to get rid of Shokin then right now Fox News would be telling you that Joe refused to work with our EU partners to get rid of the crooked Prosecutor because Hunter was involved in corruption in Ukrain.  And you would be screaming about how crooked Biden was for NOT trying to force out Shokin and clean up the corruption in Ukrain.


Biden was just doing his job when he threatened to withhold foreign aid.  He was acting in his official capacity and in the best interest of the United States and our European allies. That is exactly how the politics of foreign aid is supposed to work.

[Belsnickel]

(10-15-2019, 01:46 PM)fredtoast Wrote: No he did not.

You don't have a clue what really happened.

Biden worked with our allies in the EU and the World Bank to rid Ukrain of corruption.  The funny thing about it is that if Joe Biden had taken NO ACTION to get rid of Shokin then right now Fox News would be telling you that Joe refused to work with our EU partners to get rid of the crooked Prosecutor because his son was involved in corruption in Ukrain.  And you would be screaming about how crooked Biden was for NOT trying to force out Shokin and clean up the corruption in Ukrain.


Biden was just doing his job when he threatened to withhold foreign aid.  He was acting in his official capacity and in the best interest of the United States and our European allies. That is exactly how the politics of foreign aid is supposed to work.

Was coming here to say this. People need to stop spreading fake news on the board.

Edit to add: The investigation into the company was in place before Shokin, had been dormant under Shokin (his lack of action on the case was one reason the US and others wanted Shokin gone) and was about activities before Hunter Biden was on the board meaning he would not have been swept up in the investigation and likely had no knowledge of it (because if he had, he probably wouldn't have taken the position given who his father is). 

[CJD]

Spoken as someone who has absolutely no warm feelings towards Joe Biden or his family (The only time I would ever vote for him is if he is in the national election vs Trump): No one with the last name Biden did anything illegal.

Joe Biden withheld financial aid legally and under the direction of the President who was acting in the best interests of the United States of America as a means to root out actual corruption/lack of action towards solving corruption in Ukraine.

Hunter Biden took a job that he was not qualified for that was offered to him because his father is Joe Biden.

The former Biden did absolutely nothing shady, wrong or odd in any way regarding America's foreign policy and use of leverage.

The latter Biden didn't earn that job nor should he have had it, as it creates a potential conflict of interest for his father, the vice president at the time, but he didn't do anything illegal. There is no law forbidding children of politicians from taking jobs from foreign companies.

You can make an argument that there SHOULD be a law in that vein...but there is no argument regarding any kind of illegal activity done by either of the Bidens.

You can't say the same for people with the last name Trump.

[Belsnickel]

(10-15-2019, 02:52 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Spoken as someone who has absolutely no warm feelings towards Joe Biden or his family (The only time I would ever vote for him is if he is in the national election vs Trump): No one with the last name Biden did anything illegal.

Joe Biden withheld financial aid legally and under the direction of the President who was acting in the best interests of the United States of America as a means to root out actual corruption/lack of action towards solving corruption in Ukraine.

Hunter Biden took a job that he was not qualified for that was offered to him because his father is Joe Biden.

The former Biden did absolutely nothing shady, wrong or odd in any way regarding America's foreign policy and use of leverage.

The latter Biden didn't earn that job nor should he have had it, as it creates a potential conflict of interest for his father, the vice president at the time, but he didn't do anything illegal. There is no law forbidding children of politicians from taking jobs from foreign companies.

You can make an argument that there SHOULD be a law in that vein...but there is no argument regarding any kind of illegal activity done by either of the Bidens.

You can't say the same for people with the last name Trump.

Blind partisanship is a helluva drug.

[CJD]

(10-15-2019, 02:58 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Blind partisanship is a helluva drug.

What did I say that was blind partisanship?

[Belsnickel]

(10-15-2019, 03:01 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: What did I say that was blind partisanship?

I was referring to what makes people believe the false narratives that you were fighting against. You're good.

[oncemoreuntothejimbreech]

(10-14-2019, 08:14 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: There is a Yuge difference between the what the Trump kids do, and what those slimy Bidens did. The Trump kids have worked in their jobs, ever since they were able to, in the company that Donald built long before he ever seriously considered running for POTUS. Joe Biden used our tax money to leverage things in Hunter's favor. This AFTER he was expelled from the Navy for drug abuse..

Yes, Ivanka has a long history of trade marking voting machines in China while her dad is POTUS.

[ballsofsteel]

(10-15-2019, 02:52 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Spoken as someone who has absolutely no warm feelings towards Joe Biden or his family (The only time I would ever vote for him is if he is in the national election vs Trump): No one with the last name Biden did anything illegal.

Joe Biden withheld financial aid legally and under the direction of the President who was acting in the best interests of the United States of America as a means to root out actual corruption/lack of action towards solving corruption in Ukraine.

Hunter Biden took a job that he was not qualified for that was offered to him because his father is Joe Biden.

The former Biden did absolutely nothing shady, wrong or odd in any way regarding America's foreign policy and use of leverage.

The latter Biden didn't earn that job nor should he have had it, as it creates a potential conflict of interest for his father, the vice president at the time, but he didn't do anything illegal. There is no law forbidding children of politicians from taking jobs from foreign companies.

You can make an argument that there SHOULD be a law in that vein...but there is no argument regarding any kind of illegal activity done by either of the Bidens.

You can't say the same for people with the last name Trump.

Great post Crazy. I couldn't of explained better.

[*bfine32*]

(10-14-2019, 10:53 PM)Benton Wrote: Of course the bidens are making money off their family name.

Every family that goes to the white house finds itself with consultant and lobbyist positions. It's about who you know. I don't like that,, but that's never really something you can skirt. Even basic 9-5 jobs are that way.

The difference is the trump family is currently impacting foreign policy to benefit themselves individually. It's mind boggling that's been allowed so blatantly

I think this is said well and I too have no idea why Trump's family is allowed to fulfill such roles as assigned to JR and his daughter.  think if you choose to become a public servant, you must forfeit any thing that could be construed as a conflict of interest. 

WTS, who do we blame, just as we cannot blame Biden's for them making a dime off their name who can we blame for Trump using his position to allow his relatives to work in such capacities? Do we blame POTUS and if so, why? Is he breaking the law? 

As I said I find it to be something that "shouldn't" be allowed, but does anything currently make it allowed?

[CJD]

(10-15-2019, 06:14 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I think this is said well and I too have no idea why Trump's family is allowed to fulfill such roles as assigned to JR and his daughter.  think if you choose to become a public servant, you must forfeit any thing that could be construed as a conflict of interest. 

WTS, who do we blame, just as we cannot blame Biden's for them making a dime off their name who can we blame for Trump using his position to allow his relatives to work in such capacities? Do we blame POTUS and if so, why? Is he breaking the law? 

As I said I find it to be something that "shouldn't" be allowed, but does anything currently make it allowed?

I personally feel exactly the same way about Ivanka and Jared participating in government jobs as I do about Hunter Biden having a job at Burisma (albeit, not the same scenario):


It isn't illegal, so it's not corrupt or something worth being angry about, but I think there should probably be some sort of law or at least guidelines in place to prevent these kinds of nepotistic-like things from happening so often.

[*bfine32*]

(10-15-2019, 06:20 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I personally feel exactly the same way about Ivanka and Jared participating in government jobs as I do about Hunter Biden having a job at Burisma (albeit, not the same scenario):


It isn't illegal, so it's not corrupt or something worth being angry about, but I think there should probably be some sort of law or at least guidelines in place to prevent these kinds of nepotistic-like things from happening so often.

I will say I applaud Hunter if he's a man of his word. He said he would resign if his Father is voted in as POTUS. Of Course he might resign so he can take the Secretary of State job, but we'll broach that subject when we get there. 

[ballsofsteel]

At least American tax payers weren't paying Hunter Bidens salary unlike these Trumps turds.

[Benton]

(10-15-2019, 06:14 PM)bfine32 Wrote: I think this is said well and I too have no idea why Trump's family is allowed to fulfill such roles as assigned to JR and his daughter.  think if you choose to become a public servant, you must forfeit any thing that could be construed as a conflict of interest. 

That was traditionally why those in higher offices put their holdings in a blind trust. It avoided directly knowing, or at least let voters have the belief.

Trump has gone with a different approach. He turned over his business dealings (not direct benefit, but operations management) to family... Then hired those family members.

I suppose it could be argued that would fall under him profiting from office, but that would legally be a stretch.