Yesterday, the New York Times reported on Trump’s shady foreign business entanglements in Oman – a key geopolitical player in the Middle East. The former president and his family are in business with Saudi Arabian real estate developer Dar Al Arkan on an Oman golf course, hotel, and luxury villas project.
The timing, location, and duration of this 30-year project is eyebrow-raising as Trump seeks a second term as president. If Trump wins in 2024, foreign governments would be able to buy influence with Trump by spending money at this new resort in Oman.
Trump has a long list of foreign entanglements that fly in the face of his own administration’s policies and his GOP 2024 rivals will capitalize on that in the primary.
New York Times: Trump Real Estate Deal in Oman Underscores Ethics Concerns
By Eric Lipton | 6/20/23
Key quotes:
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“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.”
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“During his presidency, Mr. Trump’s family business profited directly from money spent at his Washington hotel by foreign governments including Saudi Arabia, just one example of what ethics experts cited as real or perceived conflicts of interest during his administration. His stake in the project in Oman as he runs for president again only focuses more attention on whether and how his own financial interests could influence foreign policy were he to return to the White House.”
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“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.’”
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“Like other Middle Eastern nations, Oman has drawn scrutiny for its treatment of foreign workers. In a report last year, the State Department listed ‘labor exploitation of foreign migrants’ as among the human rights issues it is monitoring in Oman.”
Published: Jun 21, 2023