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MAR-A-LAGO: President Donald Trump and the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump, pictured during a Christmas dinner at their private club Mar-a-Lago on December 24 of last year. Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP
More than 200 companies, organizations and nations are said to have benefited from Donald Trump after spending millions of dollars on the president’s property.
During Donald Trump’s first two years in the White House, 60 clients who visited Trump’s properties earned the president income of NOK 110 million. The New York Times asserts this in a new revelation based on the newspaper’s access to Trump’s fiscal equations.
In total, more than 200 companies, interest groups and nations have benefited from the Trump administration by spending money on places like Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s hotels in Washington or his golf courses.
– Clearly this is problematic, says Tina Søreide from the Norwegian School of Management to VG. She is a professor of law and economics and has corruption as one of her special fields.
MEETING PLACE: Trump’s private club, Mar-a-Lago, in Florida. Photo: JOE RAEDLE / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA
In March 2018, a real estate developer who had donated generously to Trump’s inauguration and wanted billions in loans from the Trump administration met with the president in Mar-a-Lago and asked for his help.
According to the Times, Trump approached his personal attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, and said “Do this,” while describing the real estate developer as “a very important man.”
– Obvious conflict of interest
– In the United States, there has been a long discussion about what is called legal corruption, with large electoral campaign contributions to parties in exchange for politics. Here it is clear that they have tried to influence politics by increasing their personal wealth. This is what we call inappropriate in Norwegian corruption law, says Professor Søreide.
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– Creates an obvious conflict of interest. It is important that those who are elected to political office are not affected and do not derive personal benefit from the decisions they make. That is why we have strict rules of fairness, both in Norway and in other countries. It serves two purposes: It should prevent people from making decisions based on personal gain, and it should ensure people’s trust in the system, he adds.
Since his first public meetings in 2015, Trump has promised voters to “wring the sponge,” that is, to remove the political influence that can be bought for money.
“Trump not only failed to end Washington’s culture of lobbying and service sharing. He reinvented it, turning his own hotels and resorts into the new back rooms, where the mix of public and private commercial interests reigns,” writes the New York Times.
– The president has kept his promise
White House spokesman Judd Deere told the newspaper that President Trump had transferred the day-to-day management of the property to his children.
“The President has kept his promise to the American people to fight for them, end the swamp and put America first every day,” says Deere.
The Times writes that supporters have not always received the services they requested. In any case, Trump has benefited financially from this.
GOLF CLUB: Trump owns this golf club in Bedminster. Photo: Seth Wenig / AP
More than 70 interest groups, companies and governments from other countries are said to have moved events to Trump properties or created new events there. There is a good chance of meeting Trump there. It has spent nearly 400 days in its own hotels and resorts since its opening, according to the newspaper.
– They are sophisticated people and adapt to where the president is. You are entering the president’s comfort zone. He goes to Mar-a-Lago or Bedminster (his golf course in New Jersey, editor’s note) to relax and recharge his batteries, lobbyist Bryan Lanza tells the New York Times.
– Drawn to the extreme
NHH’s Tina Søreide believes there is more cause for concern for Trump than for previous US presidents.
– Here it is taken to the extreme. Researchers in the United States have followed and documented conflicts of interest since he came to power. Under Trump, this is a bigger problem than compared to other presidents.
ANSWER: Professor Tina Søreide from the Norwegian School of Management believes Trump is acting problematic. Photo: NHH.no
The New York Times has also revealed that Trump is $ 421 million in debt, nearly four billion Norwegian kroner.
– We do not know who owns this debt. what do you think about it?
– We don’t know how much other players control it. He acts like an independent bully, but the reality may still be that he is influenced by other interests, Søreide tells VG.
– It is a two-sided problem: it effectively affects politics and weakens respect for the highest state institution.
