How the Trumps Turned an Election Victory Into a Cash Bonanza - WSJ
When Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos dined with Donald Trump and his wife Melania at Mar-a-Lago in December, there was a lot at stake for both men: Bezos, a titan of industry whose company is crucial to the U.S. economy, was rebuilding his relationship with a resurgent and powerful soon-to-be president. A lot was at stake for Melania, too: She was looking for a buyer for a documentary about her transition back to first lady. Her agent had pitched the film, which she would executive produce, to a number of studios, including the one owned by Amazon.
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Just over two weeks later, Amazon, a company that prides itself on frugality and sharp negotiating, agreed to pay $40 million to license the film—the most Amazon had ever spent on a documentary and nearly three times the next-closest offer. Netflix and Apple declined even to bid. Paramount made a lowball $4 million distribution-rights offer. Disney, the most interested studio besides Amazon, offered $14 million.
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The Amazon deal is just one of the ways the new first family has benefited from its return to the White House. Companies have directed about $80 million to members of the Trump family and the Trump presidential library so far, as defendants settle lawsuits the president previously filed against them and corporations enter into new business ventures, including the documentary. This figure doesn’t include potential gains from crypto pursuits.
Much of the legal settlement money will go to a fund for the president’s library, a not-for-profit whose mission is to “preserve and steward” Trump’s legacy. But Trump’s share of a $10 million settlement Elon Musk’s X agreed to this week is expected to go to him directly, according to people familiar with the matter. The pace and volume of the family’s moneymaking efforts so far are unprecedented, surpassing even the activity of Trump’s first term, which drew condemnation from ethics watchdogs and congressional Democrats.
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And unlike in 2017, when Trump said his company would forgo foreign deals with both government and private partners, the Trump Organization remains open for business with foreign companies. The top of the Trump Organization website currently reads: “Coming soon: A preview of Trump Organization global portfolio expansion.” Eric Trump has signaled he is less open to reining in the company’s business deals to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest this time around. “I tried to do everything right in 2016 and I got very little credit for it,” he told the Journal a month before the election.
On Monday, Trump fired the head of the Office of Government Ethics, an independent agency that oversees ethics issues across the executive branch and had been working closely with the White House vetting nominees that require Senate confirmation. The director, David Huitema, had been appointed by President Joe Biden and was less than two months into a five-year term.
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https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/trump-family-election-cash-bonanza-2f5f8714?st=P6B9qU&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
free
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But as long as he cuts funding the poor and the sick worldwide.
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