Eric Lipton et al. at NYT:
The Trump White House has repeatedly sounded an alarm about visitors with ties to China’s Communist Party coming to the United States, arguing that they are a potential security threat.
But the administration appears to have literally left the door open to a member of a Chinese government group when it went along with a plan to give the biggest purchasers of President Trump’s digital currency access to the president and the White House.
Mr. Trump launched a so-called memecoin, a type of cryptocurrency, just days before his inauguration. To bolster sales, the president’s business partners created a contest in April, offering the coin’s top buyers a tour of the White House and a private dinner with Mr. Trump at his Virginia golf club.
One of those buyers was He Tianying, who is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to government documents in China examined by The New York Times.
- While administration officials engage in complex negotiations in the Middle East, Mr. Trump and his family are making billions of dollars’ worth of deals with players in the region. The Trump Organization has six real estate projects planned in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The company struck a deal with the Qatari government to build a golf club and beachside villas that will bring in millions of dollars in fees. Mr. Trump announced recently that Qatar was donating a Boeing 747-8 worth about $200 million to serve as a more luxurious Air Force One, which he has said could go to his presidential library after he leaves office. For all this, he has made clear that tiny Qatar can expect a cozy relationship. “We are going to protect this country,” Mr. Trump said in Doha. “It’s a very special place, with a special royal family.”
- During his first term, those currying favor with Mr. Trump bought drinks and dinner or spent the night at his Washington hotel. Now they can spend half a million dollars to join the private club Donald Trump Jr. is opening in Georgetown. It is called Executive Branch. The club’s founding members include Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, twin brothers whose cryptocurrency company was being sued by the S.E.C. — until Mr. Trump’s administration put a hold on the lawsuit.
- As his administration is negotiating with Vietnam to reduce the tariffs he imposed on the country’s goods, the government there is making way for a $1.5 billion golf complex outside Hanoi, as well as a Trump skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnamese officials said in a letter that the real estate project needed to be fast-tracked because it was “receiving special attention from the Trump administration and President Donald Trump personally.”
- Serbian officials cleared the way for a Trump International Hotel in Belgrade by using a forged document to permit the demolition of a cultural site at the location. Serbian opposition leaders say the forgery demonstrates how eager the country’s government has been to do a deal benefiting Mr. Trump.
- Mr. Trump has held meetings, including one in the Oval Office, to force a merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV golf circuit, which frequently holds tournaments on Trump courses. In April, LIV Golf paid the Trump family to host a tournament at the Trump National Doral in Florida. A merger could lead to more such events.
- The right-wing activist Elizabeth Fago attended a $1 million-per-person fund-raising dinner for MAGA Inc., Mr. Trump’s super PAC, in April. Less than three weeks later, The Times reported, he granted a full pardon to Ms. Fago’s son Paul Walczak, who pleaded guilty to tax crimes in 2024. The pardon is one of many issued by Mr. Trump to people who provided him with political or financial support or were associated with others who did.
- After personally suing media companies that the government regulates, including CBS/Paramount and ABC/Disney, Mr. Trump has won millions of dollars in settlements. Paramount has reportedly offered $15 million to settle a baseless lawsuit Mr. Trump filed against CBS, fearing that the Trump administration would otherwise block its planned merger with Skydance Media. Mr. Trump is demanding $25 million.
- Amazon has agreed to pay $40 million for the rights to a documentary about Melania Trump. That’s tens of millions more than such projects usually cost, Hollywood executives have said. Mrs. Trump’s cut is more than 70 percent. Defense contracts for web services would be reason enough for Amazon to curry favor with Mr. Trump.
- Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee raised $239 million, mostly from large corporations and business leaders. The committee spent far less than that on the inauguration and faces few legal restrictions on what to do with the rest of the money. It is typical for presidents not to spend all of their inaugural funds, but previous presidents raised far less than Mr. Trump. The largest donor, a chicken processor called Pilgrim’s Pride, already seems to be benefiting from favorable government policies, The Wall Street Journal reported.
