Highlights:
An Intelligence Report Released By The Biden Administration Stated The Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Of Saudi Arabia Approved The Assassination Of Jamal Khashoggi. According to the New York Times, “Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved the assassination of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to an intelligence report that the Biden administration released on Friday that offered the world a reminder of the brutal killing. An elite team of operatives helped carry out the killing, the report said. The team reported directly to Prince Mohammed, who cultivated a climate of fear that made it unlikely for aides to act without his consent, according to the report.” [New York Times, 2/26/21]
Trump Defied The Nation’s Intelligence Agencies When He Declared His “Unswerving Loyalty To Saudi Arabia” Asserting That Mohammed Bin Salman’s Culpability For The Killing Of Jamal Khashoggi May Never Be Known. According to the New York Times, “President Trump defied the nation’s intelligence agencies and a growing body of evidence on Tuesday to declare his unswerving loyalty to Saudi Arabia, asserting that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s culpability for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi might never be known. In a remarkable statement that appeared calculated to end the debate over the American response to the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, the president said, ‘It could very well be that the crown prince had knowledge of this tragic event — maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!’ ‘We may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi,’ Mr. Trump added. ‘In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.’” [New York Times, 11/20/18]
Kushner Played A Leading Role In Defending Crown Prince Mohammed After Khashoggi’s Murder. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Kushner played a leading role inside the Trump administration defending Crown Prince Mohammed after U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that he had approved the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post and resident of Virginia who had criticized the kingdom’s rulers.” [New York Times, 4/10/22]
Trump’s Support For MBS Drew Outrage From Senate Ally Lindsey Graham.
According to the New York Times, “They also drew outrage from members of Congress and human rights activists, for whom the grisly killing has become a test of America’s willingness to overlook the crimes of a strategically valuable ally. Even Mr. Trump’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill expressed revulsion. ‘The behavior of the crown prince — in multiple ways — has shown disrespect for the relationship and made him, in my view, beyond toxic,’ Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said in a statement.” [New York Times,
Trump Struck A Deal To Build A Multibillion-Dollar Real Estate Project In Oman. According to the New York Times, “On a remote site at the edge of the Gulf of Oman, thousands of migrant laborers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are at work in 103-degree heat, toiling in shifts from dawn until nightfall to build a new city, a multibillion-dollar project backed by Oman’s oil-rich government that has an unusual partner: former President Donald J. Trump. […] Mr. Trump has been selling his name to global real estate developers for more than a decade. But the Oman deal has taken his financial stake in one of the world’s most strategically important and volatile regions to a new level, underscoring how his business and his politics intersect as he runs for president again amid intensifying legal and ethical troubles.” [New York Times, 6/20/23]
Saudi Development Group Dar Al Arkan Brought Trump And His Family Into The Multibillion-Dollar Deal In Oman. According to the New York Times, “And it was through Dar Al Arkan, the Saudi real estate company, that Mr. Trump and his family firm got into the Oman project.” [New York Times, 6/20/23]
An Omani Official Said That Dar Al Arkan Brought In Trump To Help Gain Attention And Sell The Project. According to the New York Times, “Hashil bin Obaid Al Mahrouqi, the chief executive of the Omani government agency that oversees the Yiti project, said it was Dar Al Arkan’s choice to bring in Mr. Trump, but he added that international brands like Mr. Trump’s would help bring global attention — and sales — to the project.” [New York Times, 6/20/23]
Dar Al Arkan Was Closely Intertwined With The Saudi Government. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Trump was brought into the deal by a Saudi real estate firm, Dar Al Arkan, which is closely intertwined with the Saudi government.” [New York Times, 6/20/23]
Just Before Trump Announced His Reelection Campaign, Trump Hosted Saudi Developers In New York City To Sign The Multibillion Dollar Real Estate Deal. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Trump was on hand to close the deal in New York in November, just before he announced his 2024 presidential bid. Executives from the Saudi real estate company visited Trump Tower and showed off designs for the project, and Eric Trump signed paperwork confirming the deal.” [New York Times, 6/20/23]
The Trump Organization Agreed To A 30-Year Deal With Dar Al Arkan To Manage A Golf Course, Hotel, And Residences In Dubai. According to the New York Times, “Mr. El Chaar had worked with the Trump family in Dubai, building a Trump International Golf Club. Pleased with that project, he asked the Trump family to join him in Oman, in what will be DarGlobal’s largest international project, worth an estimated $4 billion. The 30-year agreement between DarGlobal and the Trump family designates the Trump Organization as the hotel manager that will ‘direct the management and operation of a world-class, superluxury hotel to be constructed by Dar Oman within its Aida project in Oman.’ The deal puts the Trump company in charge of the hotel budget, its restaurants and any retail stores. The Trump Organization will set prices and market the hotel once it opens under the name Trump International Hotel Oman. It will have similar management rights over the 18-hole golf course and golf club, which will be known as Trump International Golf Club Oman. There will also be over 200 ‘Trump branded residential villas,’ according to one company document published in January, and marked confidential. The Trump family, the agreement says, will not have to commit its own money to the project, but it will have detailed oversight including reviewing a ‘model room’ that DarGlobal will build to sign off on the design.” [New York Times, 6/20/23]
During The 2016 Campaign, Trump Established Several Shell Companies In Preparation For A Potential Saudi Hotel Development. According to the Washington Post, “During Trump’s presidential campaign, he also seemed to be exploring plans to build a hotel in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia’s second-largest city, part of an international expansion plan. In August 2015 — two months after he got into the race — Trump established eight new shell companies that included the name ‘Jeddah.’ The names of those corporations — four of which also included the word ‘hotel’ — seemed to indicate Trump was planning a hotel in the city. The Trump Organization did not answer questions about what was planned or if the company was working with a Saudi partner.” [Washington Post, 10/11/18]
Trump And His Family Aligned Themselves With Saudi-Backed LIV Golf. According to the New York Times, “Since the establishment of LIV Golf, the Saudi-funded breakaway professional golf circuit, Mr. Trump and his family have aligned themselves with LIV against the PGA Tour at a time when the golf establishment in the United States and Britain had moved to shut Trump courses out of major professional competitions, a trophy that the Trump family had long sought. […] LIV soon became the Trump family’s ticket back into the rarefied world of global tournaments, with events last year at Bedminster and Trump National Doral, the family’s golf resort near Miami. This year LIV brought tournaments to three Trump courses, adding the Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia to the schedule.
The Trump Family Sought To Have More Of Its Golf Courses Host LIV Tournaments. According to the New York Times, “The Trump family has sought to have more of its golf courses host LIV tournaments, including a club in Dubai and the Trump Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, venues it now hopes to see added in future years to a reunified golf industry.” [New York Times, 6/6/23]
LIV Golf Was Backed By The Public Investment Fund Led By Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. According to the New York Times, “After Mr. Trump left office, that relationship continued in the form of a $2 billion commitment by the Public Investment Fund — led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler — to an investment fund set up by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law. […] LIV Golf is backed by the same Saudi fund. The head of the fund, Yasir al-Rumayyan, an avid golfer who also took on the role overseeing LIV Golf, spent lavishly to recruit top professional players like Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka and big names like Phil Mickelson with $25 million purses and guaranteed contracts that sometimes amounted to $100 million or more.” [New York Times, 6/6/23]
2017: The Government Of Saudi Arabia Spent Nearly $270,000 At The Trump International Hotel. According to the New York Times, “The single biggest known tab was paid by the government of Saudi Arabia, which disclosed that it spent $190,273 at the Trump hotel in early 2017, as well as an additional $78,204 on catering.” [New York Times, 9/7/19]
2018: The Crown Prince Of Saudi Arabia Stayed At Trump International Hotel Manhattan For Five Days, Boosting Struggling Hotel Revenues. According to the Washington Post, “The general manager of the Trump International Hotel in Manhattan had a rare bit of good news to report to investors this spring: After two years of decline, revenue from room rentals went up 13 percent in the first three months of 2018. What caused the uptick at President Trump’s flagship hotel in New York? One major factor: ‘a last-minute visit to New York by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,’ wrote general manager Prince A. Sanders in a May 15 letter, which was obtained by The Washington Post. […] The previously unreported letter — describing a five-day stay in March that was enough to boost the hotel’s revenue for the entire quarter — shows how little is known about the business that the president’s company does with foreign officials.” [Washington Post, 8/3/18]
Bookings By Saudi Customers At Trump Chicago Increased Significantly Between The 2016 Election And 2018. According to the Washington Post, “At Trump’s hotel in Chicago, like the hotel in New York, business has declined since Trump began his polarizing political career — but Saudi customers have been an exception. According to data recently shared with investors, Saudi bookings at Trump Chicago had gone from 81 ‘room-nights’ in the first half of 2016 to 218 in the first half of this year — an increase of 169 percent. (In the same time frame, bookings from Saudi Arabia’s rival Qatar increased 1,633 percent, from three ‘room-nights’ to 52).” [Washington Post, 10/11/18]
Trump Turnberry Staffer: Group Of Saudi Royals Stayed At The Resort For A Week In Summer 2019. According to Politico, ‘They are not the resort’s only conspicuous guests. Earlier this summer, according to a staffer, a group of Saudi royals stayed at the resort for about a week at the tail end of extended travel, bringing a party of 25 people and more than a hundred pieces of luggage.’ [Politico, 9/16/19]
Trump On Saudi Arabia During A 2015 Campaign Rally: “I Get Along With All Of Them. They Buy Apartments From Me. They Spend $40 Million, $50 Million.” According to the Washington Post, “‘Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million,’ Trump told a crowd at an Alabama campaign rally in 2015. ‘Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.’” [Washington Post, 10/11/18]
1991: Trump Sold $20 Million Yacht To Saudi Prince. According to the Washington Post, “In 1991, when Trump was nearly $900 million in debt from failed casino projects, he sold his 281-foot yacht to Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal for $20 million. (The boat had been originally owned by late Saudi billionaire and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a cousin of Jamal Khashoggi.)” [Washington Post, 10/11/18]
2001: Trump Sold 45th Floor Of Trump World Tower New York To Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. According to The Washington Post, “In 2001, Trump sold the 45th floor of his Trump World Tower, in New York, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for $4.5 million.” [Washington Post, 10/11/18]
Kushner Received $2 Billion From The Saudis For His Investment Venture. According to the New York Times, “Six months after leaving the White House, Jared Kushner secured a $2 billion investment from a fund led by the Saudi crown prince, a close ally during the Trump administration, despite objections from the fund’s advisers about the merits of the deal.” [New York Times, 4/10/22]
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Overruled A Board That Had Doubts About Kushner. According to the New York Times, “A panel that screens investments for the main Saudi sovereign wealth fund cited concerns about the proposed deal with Mr. Kushner’s newly formed private equity firm, Affinity Partners, previously undisclosed documents show. […] But days later the full board of the $620 billion Public Investment Fund — led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and a beneficiary of Mr. Kushner’s support when he worked as a White House adviser — overruled the panel.” [New York Times, 4/10/22]
The Saudi Fund Would Receive A Stake Of At Least 28% In Kushner’s Main Investment Vehicle After The Investment. “The Saudi documents obtained by The Times say that in return for its investment, the Saudi fund would receive a stake of at least 28 percent in Mr. Kushner’s main investment vehicle.” [New York Times, 4/10/22]
Trump’s Business Expanded In Saudi Arabia
The Trump Organization Announced A New Trump Tour In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. According to CNN, “The Trump Organization revealed plans Monday to develop a luxury Trump Tower in Saudi Arabia. The new tower will be built in Jeddah and developed in tandem with Dar Global, the international arm of Saudi mega-developer Dar Al Arkan. If completed, it appears the Jeddah tower would be the Trump Organization’s first major project in Saudi Arabia. ‘We are thrilled to expand our footprint in the Middle East and bring the Trump standard of luxury to the region through our long-standing relationship with Dar Global,’ Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and son of former president Donald Trump, said in the announcement.” [CNN, 7/1/24]