The Trump family company struck a deal Wednesday to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar, an indication that it has no plans to hold back from foreign dealmaking during a second Trump administration, despite concerns that a president might shape US public policy for personal financial gain. The project, which features Trump-branded beachside villas and an 18-hole golf course to be built by a Saudi Arabian company, is the first foreign deal by the Trump Organization since Donald Trump took office for the second time and unlike any from his first term, the AP reports. In a press conference back then, he forswore foreign deals surrounded by stacks of legal documents and pledged to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest.
Noah Bookbinder, president of a watchdog group that has sued Trump for what it called ethics violations, blasted the Qatari deal. "You want a president making decisions that are in the best interest of the United States, not his bottom line," said Bookbinder, of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. In addition to a Saudi Arabian partner, called Dar Global, the planned resort north of the Qatari capital of Doha will be developed by a Qatari company called Qatari Diar, which is owned by the Qatari government. That would appear to violate the Trump Organization's much weaker, second-term ethics pledge that, while it would pursue foreign deals, none would include foreign governments.
Asked for clarification, the Trump Organization said its deal was with the Saudi firm, not the Qatari one, though Trump's son Eric, who is in charge of the business, mentioned both companies in an earlier statement. "We are incredibly proud to expand the Trump brand into Qatar through this exceptional collaboration with Qatari Diar and Dar Global," he said, per the AP. Wednesday's deal for the Trump International Golf Club and Trump Villas follows several deals made before Trump was sworn in. One of them was for a golf resort in Vietnam late last year with a firm with ties to the Communist Party. The deals have drawn outrage from government watchdogs but mostly silence from Trump's fellow Republicans in Congress.
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