New York Times reporter Russ Buettner told Jake Tapper on “The Lead” on Friday that Donald Trump has several business interests and ventures that he is “unlikely” to divest from anytime soon — if at all.
Buettner’s explanation came after Trump told Truth Social followers he has no plans to sell his stake in the social media company, despite clear conflict of interest concerns.
The NYT investigative journalist also pointed to “new licensing deals” as one of the biggest potential conflicts of interest under a second Trump administration. Such deals were “once their greatest source of wealth,” he explained on CNN. “In 2010 alone, Trump Organization reported on their tax returns [they] gained $30 million in pure profits just from licensing and endorsement deals. That money mostly evaporated as the popularity of ‘The Apprentice’ dwindled, and especially after he announced his candidacy in ways that turned off a lot of people that he had deals with — it basically ended.”
Trump also has a history of hosting live events that could be viewed as thinly veiled pipelines for getting cash into his coffers. One such example is the deal between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed professional golf circuit LIV Golf, which resulted in a tournament that allowed Saudi Arabia to transfer money to Trump.
The former reality TV host’s stake in Truth Social is “a massive potential conflict of interest,” in part because “that’s a business that doesn’t really have a clear reason for existing,” Buettner also noted on Friday. The Trump Media and Technology Group under which Truth Social operates brings in $4 million a year, or “roughly the same as a standalone Chick-fil-A restaurant.” This is “not a remarkable thing, but yet, it has a valuation in the billions of dollars,” he added.
“It will be very easy for someone to make an offering for all their outstanding stock at something larger than what it’s trading at, and put literally billions of dollars in Donald Trump’s pockets,” Buettner continued.
On the other hand, a company choosing to buy $10 million in ads on Truth Social would “almost triple their revenue for the year,” he concluded.
You can watch the CNN interview with Russ Buettner in the video, above.
