Public Citizen just published my first report in my new role as research director of its Trump accountability project:

“How the Trumps’ Billion-Dollar Crypto Stake Depends on a Company That Helped Iran Evade Sanctions.”

tl;dr (but you should r)—

1. In November 2023, Binance pleaded guilty in the United States to “anti-money laundering, unlicensed money transmitting, and sanctions violations” and paid $4 billion in penalties. Its CEO also “pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program” and was sentenced to four months in prison.

2 . The Trumps and Witkoffs launched World Liberty Financial in September 2024. Rather than shun a company that the Treasury Department said, “willfully failed to report well over 100,000 suspicious transactions that it processed as a result of its deficient controls, including transactions involving terrorist organizations, ransomware, child sexual exploitation material, frauds, and scams”—including in Iran—World Liberty Financial became reliant on it.

It reportedly accepted donated software from Binance. Binance made World Liberty Financial’s fledgling USD1 among the top stablecoins by accepting it in a $2 billion investment. Binance generated demand for USD1 by offering prizes for trading it. Binance converted the assets backing its sunsetting stablecoin into USD1, making it “an integral part of Binance’s updated collateral structure,” according to the World Liberty Financial. Binance now holds about 84% of all USD1 between its own accounts and its customers’.

3. In February 2026, President Trump led the United States into war against Iran.

4. Binance has continued to help Iranians evade sanctions, even after pleading guilty, Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times reported in February and March 2026. Trump’s own Justice Department, in fact, has reportedly opened an investigation.

5. Rather than retreating from its dependence on Binance in light of these new reports, World Liberty Financial is trying to a strengthen its already heavy dependence on the exchange. It has funded a promotion that encourages Binance users to acquire and hold USD1. It extended the promotion just last week.

And World Liberty Financial has entanglements beyond Binance related to Trump’s war in Iran—

• Days before Trump’s inauguration, a company chaired by the UAE’s national security adviser purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, directing hundreds of millions to the Trumps and Witkoffs. That same spymaster, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, also chairs the firm that chose to use $2 billion of USD1 to invest in Binance. The UAE, of course, has a major interest in U.S. policy towards Iran. Last week, Trump said the United States was considering offering financial support to the UAE, which “has been contending with economic fallout from the war,” the New York Times reported.

• The Pakistani government is hosting peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. It is also a business partner of World Liberty Financial, which is helping the country integrate blockchain technology into its financial system, according to a press release from the Ministry of Finance

There’s a lot more in the whole report, so please read and share it. Thanks! And thanks to all my colleagues at Public Citizen who provided edits and other suggestions.

Stay informed about Trump’s presidential profiteering

There’s no lack of great reporting out there on Trump’s conflicts of interest. But it often gets buried—understandably much of the time—behind Iran, ICE, tariffs, Ukraine, Jeffrey Epstein, and the war on vaccines. Subscribe to 1100 Pennsylvania, and we’ll make sure you stay informed. It’s free.

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More on crypto corruption and Trump

I chatted about my report with Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert for our new Live: Informed Resistance conversation series on Substack.

Public Citizen

Crypto Corruption and Trump

Listen now

20 days ago · 29 likes · 3 comments · Lisa Gilbert and Zach Everson

Public Citizen launches new Substack

By the way, you should absolutely subscribe to Public Citizen’s Substack. My colleagues have been doing some amazing work trying to block Trump’s destruction of the East Wing, digging into Big Tech CEOs cozying up to Trump, keeping tabs on RFK Jr.’s misleading congressional testimony, and in countless other areas.

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Public Citizen has been standing up to corporate power and holding government accountable for 50 years.

Australia National Radio: Crypto was already a risky proposition, enter Donald J. Trump

Last week, I joined host Fran Kelly on ABC’s “The Radio National Hour” to talk at length about World Liberty Financial, why Justin Sun was angry at it, and how it has helped Trump’s net worth skyrocket while in office.

Listen here.

‘Jared Kushner’s mysterious role in the Trump Administration’

Friend of the newsletter Andrea Bernstein asks, “Is the president’s son-in-law carrying out the public’s business or pursuing his own private interests?” for The Atlantic:

While carrying out public business for his father-in-law, [Jared Kushner] has continued to pursue his private interests and declined to disclose any information about them. There’s a carve-out designation in ethics laws known as the “special government employee,” which allows businesspeople to perform work for the government. Elon Musk was a special government employee, and so was Corey Lewandowski. But Kushner has not been designated one. He is both outside and inside government—a “volunteer,” the White House calls him. And he is vaulting over strictures that were put in place to defend the mechanisms of government from becoming tools of foreign or private interests.

Read more.

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If there’s one thing you remember from this newsletter…

Since Trump was re-elected, Forbes estimates—

💰 His net worth is up $1.9 billion, to $6.2 billion

💰 Eric’s is up 10x, to $400 million

💰 Don Jr.’s is up 6x, to $300 million

💰 20-year-old Barron is worth $150 million

And Jared became a billionaire last year.

Other Trump Organization news

• “Eric Trump-backed robot startup lands $24M Pentagon deal to compete with China” (Madison Colombo for Fox Business)

• Trump’s memecoin hit an all-time low of $2.52 on Saturday, the day he hosted an event at Mar-a-Lago for the top holders. That’s down from a high of $73.43 shortly after its launch. (CoinGecko)

• “Crypto Billionaire Justin Sun Sues Trump’s World Liberty Financial—After Investing $45 Million” (Siladitya Ray for Forbes)

• World Liberty Financial’s $WLFI coin hit an all-time low of $0.07262 on Monday. That’s down from a high on the public market of $0.3313, but still 1.5x to 5x to what early investors paid (CoinGecko)

• Alt5 Sigma—the beleaguered tech company that thought buying $1.5 billion of Trump’s WLFI tokens was a good idea—is changing its name, which will surely fix everything. (Press release)

• “The President of Belemaoil Group, Tein Jack-Rich, has held high-level discussions with veteran political strategist Roger Stone at Mar-a-Lago, focusing on expanding trade relations between the United States and Nigeria.” (Nnasom David for Vanguard)

• “Devin Nunes was not an obvious choice to run a fledgling social media network, but after $1.1 billion in losses, the former dairy farmer and congressman is out as the head of Truth Social.” (Russ Choma for Mother Jones)

• Eric Trump’s kids’ cancer charity, again ostensibly spent money at a Trump property (Lara Trump on X)

• RNC dropped $50K at Trump Doral on March 13. (FEC filing)

• NRCC funneled $31,000 to Trump via a Mar -a-Lago rental in March. (FEC filing)

• Trump’s former bodyguard Keith Schiller is now lobbying for Taiwan, as one does. (FARA filing)

• “Bodycam Footage Shows 2022 Arrest of Zach Witkoff Outside Miami Nightclub” (Scott Stedman for The Newsground)

• “LIV Golf Kills: Resist Saudi Tyranny and Trump Corruption at Trump National Golf Club: Day One of the Tournament” (Action Network)

• On April 17, Donald Trump’s Patent and Trademark Office decided that, yes, his daughter-in-law demonstrated she had been using “Lara Trump” on products and advanced her TM application. (USPTO filing)

• “The Trump phone still isn’t real” (Dominic Preston for The Verge)

Get in touch

Have a tip? Need a source? z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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After reporting almost exclusively on Trump’s business interests for the last decade, I’ve come to a verdict: The conflicts are massive and they need to be stopped.

On Monday I joined Public Citizen as research director of its Trump accountability project.

I’m incredibly thankful to have worked with such talented colleagues at Forbes. Easily the most fulfilling years of my career.

If you are a reporter working on a piece about Trump’s business conflicts, please consider me a source—I’m always happy to talk about Trump’s entanglements. (Weird affliction, I know.) Email zeverson@citizen.org or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

And, if anyone has information about Trump’s businesses, I remain very interested in hearing it!

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Want more-frequent updates on Trump’s business conflicts what this newsletter provides? Follow me on Bluesky, Mastodon, or LinkedIn.

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‘Binance—Whose Founder Was Pardoned—Now Holds 87% Of Trump’s Stablecoin’

From my final piece for Forbes, published earlier in February:

Between its own wallets and its users’ accounts, Binance holds approximately 87% of all USD1 in circulation—roughly $4.7 billion of the $5.4 billion total supply—the highest concentration at any third-party exchange among the top 10 stablecoins by market cap as of Monday, according to a Forbes analysis of data from Arkham Intel, a blockchain analytics platform.

World Liberty Financial may be deepening that concentration: In late January, two days after Binance announced a promotion where USD1 holders would be awarded $40 million in one of World Liberty Financial’s other crypto products, $WLFI, Trump’s crypto venture transferred about that much worth of $WLFI to Binance, according to Arkham.

Binance is prohibited from serving U.S. customers under the terms of its 2023 settlement with the Treasury Department, meaning if the rules are properly followed, the 87% of USD1 kept in Binance-controlled wallets would mostly be held on behalf of customers outside the United States.

A Trump-affiliated LLC owns about 38% of World Liberty Financial, which stands to profit from its stablecoin by investing the dollars backing USD1 in assets like U.S. Treasurys, keeping the interest (currently around 3.6%).

Read more at Forbes.

‘Why The Trump-UAE Crypto Deal Made No Financial Sense—For The Emiratis’

Kyle Khan-Mullins and I (but mostly Kyle) analyzed a pre-inauguration deal between World Liberty Financial and the UAE’s spymaster:

Right before Donald Trump’s second inauguration, he and his family were spurring a crypto frenzy. On January 17, three days ahead of his swearing in, he released a memecoin, a hype vehicle that eventually added an estimated $1 billion or so to his net worth in 2025. Thanks to a Wall Street Journal investigation published on Saturday, we now know that just one day earlier, one of the family’s other crypto ventures—World Liberty Financial, launched in September 2024—penned a deal with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who heads up multiple United Arab Emirates investment funds and serves as the country’s national security advisor and the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi; his brother is the UAE’s president.

Forbes first reported the likelihood that the Trumps had secretly sold a stake in World Liberty Financial back in June. According to the Journal’s reporting, Aryam Investment 1, a “Tahnoon-backed company,” purchased 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500 million delivered in multiple installments. Before the deal, which was later confirmed by World Liberty, the Trump family owned about 75% of World Liberty Financial through a company called DT Marks Defi LLC, and that company was split 70-30 between Trump and his family members, according to Trump’s most recent financial disclosure. It’s likely that Trump’s cut of the $500 million sale, before any taxes, would thus have been roughly $260 million in all. His three sons would have split another $100 million or so, Forbes estimates.

Here’s the problem: While the Trumps got to fill their pockets with royal cash, it’s unclear what, if anything, the Emiratis got out of the deal, at least from a financial perspective.

Read more at Forbes.

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‘Trump’s properties remain an epicenter of his conflicts and corruption in second term’

An exhaustive look from Rebecca Jacobs at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington at how’s Trump’s properties are benefiting from his presidency:

In his first 365 days back in office, Trump visited his properties 198 times, and visited his golf courses 116 times, sending a message to those looking to influence his administration that his properties are open for business. Foreign government officials visited his properties 55 times, pouring money into Trump’s pockets, and special interest groups held 57 events at them. Trump and his family profit financially.

Read more at CREW.

‘Days after $5M donation, Trump administration backs Crypto.com in lawsuit’

Great catch here by Judd Legum for Popular Information:

In a document quietly filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday night, MAGA Inc., the primary Super PAC supporting President Trump, revealed that it received a $5 million donation from Crypto.com on January 23, 2026. The donation was made in the name of Crypto.com’s parent company, Foris Dax, Inc.1

25 days later, on February 17, the Trump administration’s Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), intervened on Crypto.com’s behalf in high-stakes lawsuit in federal court.

Read more at Popular Information.

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Other Trump Organization news

• “The Trump boys are Making Corruption Great Again” by Liz Dye for Public Notice

• “Binance’s MAGA-Branding Strategy “ by Jacob Silverman for The Nation

• “During Merger Talks, Trump Bought More Netflix and Discovery Communications Corporate Debt” by Dave Levinthal for NOTUS

• “Trump Business Partner Promises New Tower Won’t Be as Tacky as Australians Fear” by Russ Choma for Mother Jones

• “Armed Man Is Fatally Shot at Mar-a-Lago, Secret Service Says” by Minho KimSonia A. Rao and Tyler Pager for the New York Times

• “Women in tight uniforms and maggots in the soft serve: Two ex-employees sue Trump’s N.J. golf club” by Abraham Gutman for the Philadelphia Inquirer

• “Three previously unknown donors gave $26 million to Trump-aligned dark money group” by Issue One

• Co-founders of one of Trump’s largest business ventures reportedly had their Twitter accounts hacked

Get in touch

Have a tip? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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I get it: Billy Joel could write “We Didn’t Start the Fire 2” using just headlines from the past two weeks. That said, Trump’s increase in wealth has to be one of the biggest stories of his first year in office, per recent valuations from my colleagues Dan Alexander and Kyle Khan-Mullins:

• Donald Trump’s net worth is up $2.3 billion, to an estimated $6.6 billion, since he was re-elected

• Eric Trump’s net worth has increased tenfold, to an estimated $400 million, since his father was re-elected.

• Donald Trump Jr.’s net worth has increased an estimated sixfold, to an estimated $300 million, since his father was re-elected.

• 19-year-old Barron Trump is worth an estimated $150 million.

Welcome To 1100 Pennsylvania

Want more-frequent updates on Trump’s business conflicts what this newsletter provides? Follow me on Bluesky, Mastodon, or LinkedIn; follow me at Forbes; or subscribe to my Forbes RSS feed.

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Trump Vineyard Seeks Foreign Workers At Lower Wages After Trump Administration Policy Shift

I’ve reported for several years on the Trump Organization’s reliance on temporary foreign labor. My latest piece in the saga, however, had a twist when I realized that the Trump administration had lowered minimum wages for some temporary farmworkers, allowing the Trump Organization to offer lower wages.

In October 2025, Trump’s Department of Labor enacted a rule changing how wages are calculated for some temporary foreign farmworkers on H-2A visas, lowering pay rates for certain jobs.

Two months later, the Trump Organization filed paperwork seeking approval to hire 36 foreign workers via H-2A visas for its Virginia winery from February through October 2026, saying it could not find enough U.S. workers and that hiring foreign labor would not hurt domestic wages or working conditions.

The jobs pay $13.90 an hour—$1.91 less than what the winery paid in 2025 and below what it has offered for similar roles since 2021, according to Labor Department records.

Read more at Forbes.

Defense Contractor CEO Pours $4 Million Into Pro-Trump PAC

Published this one Thursday at Forbes:

The CEO of a woman-owned, disadvantaged small business holding government contracts emerged as a major Republican donor in October 2025, giving more than $4 million to groups backing President Donald Trump—donations permitted under federal law when made from an executive’s personal funds.

Read more at Forbes.

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‘Call This Idiot’: Trump Ordered Cabinet Secretary To Pressure Fed Chair To Cut Rates

Kyle Khan-Mullins reports for Forbes:

Over the weekend, details emerged of a criminal investigation opened by the Trump administration into the Federal Reserve, America’s central bank. The ostensible reason: comments that Fed Chair Jerome Powell made to the Senate in 2025 about renovations to Fed buildings that are running over budget. But the Fed, and its ability to set interest rates free of political pressure from the White House, has long attracted Trump’s ire. In 2024, Forbes reported that Trump had, in his first term, ordered then-commerce secretary Wilbur Ross to convince Powell to cut rates and juice the economy, the same thing he wants the embattled banker to do now. That story is [here].

Read more at Forbes.

How Trump’s Attack On Venezuela May Have Made Him Money

Kyle Khan-Mullins reports for Forbes

For Trump, some newfound wealth has been coming out of another class of assets that’s done well since the weekend: cryptocurrencies, especially ones tied to the president. And he owns a lot of them. Since the Venezuela raid, Forbes estimates that the value of his crypto-related holdings is up about $140 million in all.

Read more at Forbes.

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Other Trump Organization news

• “Companies see boost from Trump admin after adding Don Jr. to their board “ by Alyssa Meiman for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

• “Dar Global and Trump Organization launch $10 billion Saudi developments” by Timour Azhari for Reuters

• “Six months later, Trump Mobile still hasn’t delivered preordered phones” by Jon Brodkin for Ars Technica

• “The Corruption Chronicles: One year of Donald Trump profiteering from public office and selling access and influence” by Kei Chin and Michael Beckel for Issue One

• Trump Media is launching investment vehicles that mirror Trump administration policies.

• “World Liberty, Flagship in Trumps’ Crypto Fleet, Seeks a U.S. Banking License” by Vicky Ge Huang

• “During Merger Talks, Trump Bought More Netflix and Discovery Communications Corporate Debt” by Dave Levinthal for NOTUS

• “Two Trump Org execs and two Trump Media execs including CEO Devin Nunes are directors of Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp” by Wendy Siegelman for NewsTRACS

Get in touch

Have a tip? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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From my latest for Forbes:

Alt5 Sigma [Nasdaq: ALTS] said its board suspended CEO Peter Tassiopoulos effective Oct. 16 without explaining the move in a filing it made with the SEC four business days later.

An internal email sent to employees on Sept. 4—six weeks earlier—says the board had placed Tassiopoulos on temporary leave by that day, according to a copy shown to Forbes by two sources close to the company.

That message, sent by Alt5 Sigma’s chief operations officer and director Ron Pitters and signed by director David Danziger, said a special board committee was investigating unspecified “certain matters concerning the company” and that chief revenue officer Vay Tham also had been placed on leave.

Under SEC rules, public companies must report within four business days when their executive officer effectively stops serving in that role, and experts told Forbes that materially false or misleading filings can violate anti-fraud laws, although establishing such a violation can be difficult.

A World Liberty Financial attorney told Forbes that Tassiopoulos remains an Alt5 Sigma employee and is also still on its board, while an Alt5 Sigma spokesperson said its board’s special committee is investigating, among other matters, a subsidiary’s legal troubles in Rwanda—where it was found criminally liable for illicit enrichment and money laundering, a verdict it is appealing while claiming it was the victim of fraud—though the company did not say whether that issue led to the executives being placed on temporary leave.

Publicly traded Alt5 Sigma accumulated $1.5 billion of World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency in August as part of a circular deal that routed more than an estimated $500 million to an entity affiliated with President Donald Trump.

There’s a lot more in there—Eric Trump’s disappearing board seat! Details about Rwanda! Appliance recycling!—so please check it out.

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‘Trump received surprisingly little for hosting Saudi-backed golf events’

From “Here’s How Much Trump Received For Hosting Saudi-Backed Golf Events” by Dan Alexander for Forbes:

Saudi Arabia upended the golf world a few years ago with a simple strategy: Throw barrels of money at the biggest stars in the sport. Aging greats Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson hauled in an estimated $125 million and $200 million, respectively. Still-spry Jon Rahm got a reported $300 million. One big name LIV didn’t have to pay much to get on its side? Donald Trump.

The president of the United States, who is expected to offer a warm welcome to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House Tuesday, received about $800,000 for hosting a LIV Golf tournament in 2022, according to an income statement included in court filings. Another statement suggests a 2023 LIV event brought in $950,000. Trump has hosted seven LIV tournaments by now. If each of them generated similar amounts, his total take would add up to roughly $6 million over four years. That might sound like a lot, but it’s virtually nothing in the LIV Golf world, where no-name golfers can easily earn that much in prize money.

Read more.

‘Trump’s net worth drops $1.1 billion’

By Sara Dorn for Forbes:

Trump’s $6.2 billion net worth is down from a record $7.3 billion in September.

The decline comes as his technology company’s stock, TMTG, which trades under the ticker DJT, dropped to $10.18 on Friday, near an all-time low, amid a steep dip in bitcoin and other tokens.

Read more.

Trump Media director dumps more shares

With Trump Media & Technology Group near its all-time low, Eric Swider, one of seven board members at the company and a leader in the deal to take Truth Social’s parent company public, sold another 5,200 shares last week.

From June 25: “Trump Media Board Member Who Led SPAC Merger Sells Nearly All His Shares”

‘Trump Organization announces Maldives resort—and offers investors stakes via crypto’

By Kirk Ogunrinde for Forbes:

The Trump Organization is licensing its name to a luxury hotel in the Maldives, in partnership with a Saudi-based developer, with potential investors being offered ownership through buying digital assets—the latest crypto venture linked to Trump.

The new venture will be the “first tokenized hotel development” project, the Trump Organization claimed, meaning investors will be offered ownership stakes through their purchase of digital tokens, according to the announcement.

Read more.

Other Trump Organization news

• “Fact-checking Trump’s claim his family has done ‘little’ business with Saudi Arabia” (NPR)

• “Tax docs show Trump library is counting on a $1B fundraising haul” (Claire Heddles for The Miami Herald)

• “Trump Library Foundation Expects to Raise $50 Million This Year” (David A. Fahrenthold for The New York Times)

• “Here’s Everyone Who Attended Trump’s Black-Tie Dinner With Saudi’s Prime Minister” (Siladitya Ray and Mary Whitfill Roeloffs for Forbes)

• “Inside the Trump Organization’s Slow-Moving Vietnam ‘Mega Project’” (Patricia Kowsmann and Rebecca Feng for The Wall Street Journal)

• “When Hary met Donald: the billionaire key to Trump’s Indonesian plans” (A. Anantha Lakshmi and Diana Mariska for The Financial Times)

• “Donald Trump Jr. in overland visit to Gibraltar for meetings (Gibraltar Chronicle)

• “Donald Trump and the unseemly rise of ‘insider capitalism’” (The Economist)

• World Liberty Financial’s web page plugs its Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn, and Medium accounts. There’s no mention of Truth Social. (World Liberty Financial)

Get in touch

Have a tip? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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2024: ‘We’re doing projects all over the [Middle East]’

“No new foreign deals will be made whatsoever during the duration of President Trump’s presidency,” Trump’s attorney Sherri Dillon said at a 2017 pre-inaugural press conference in Trump Tower (yeah, the one with the piles of folders).

In December 2024, Eric Trump took a different line. Speaking at a crypto conference in the United Arab Emirates, he said the Trump Organization was “doing projects in Jeddah, we’re doing projects in Oman, we’re doing projects in Riyadh, we’re doing projects all over the region,” ABC News reported. “The UAE is the developer’s greatest dream, because they never say no to anything,” he said.

The UAE has since become a hub of Trump Organization business interests (all stories throughout the newsletter are mine, unless otherwise credited)—

• “Abu Dhabi Fund MGX Emerges As Key Player In Two Major Trump-Era Deals”

• “MGX Cites ‘Compliance History’ In Picking Brand New Trump-Linked Stablecoin USD1 For $2 Billion Binance Deal”

• “This Gulf Nation Is Powering Trump’s Moneymaking Machine”by Dan Alexander

Of course, never count out the Saudis—

“Here’s Everything We Know About Trump’s Financial Ties To Saudi Arabia,” reports Dan

Howdy strangers!

I’d just gotten back into the rhythm of publishing 1100 Pennsylvania when my summer got hijacked by some family stuff (all’s fine!). So let’s catch up. The Trump Organization has been busy—and so have the Forbes reporters covering it.

1100 Pennsylvania is free—so please share and, if you’re not already a subscriber, become one.

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As Trump defends foreign workers, his company sought a record number in 2025

After Trump defended foreign worker visas on Fox News last week, I took another look at his business’s use of them:

The Trump Organization sought to bring in at least 184 foreign workers in 2025 for temporary positions at Mar-a-Lago, two golf clubs and a Virginia winery through H-2A and H-2B visas, according to data from the Department of Labor.

In total, Trump’s companies have sought at least 2,033 foreign workers since 2008, the earliest year for which data is posted on the Labor Department’s website—including 566 during his five years in office.

Read more at Forbes.

Trump II goes where Trump I wouldn’t on the small stuff, too

• Coast Guard-run stores, which provide service members and their families with access to tax-free consumer goods, have stocked Trump-branded wine and cider. These products appear to be among the few times Trump items have been sold at a government facility.

• GodBlessTheUSABible.com, which pays licensing fees to Trump, is selling merchandise bearing the official presidential seal—including a $150 record player and $20 beer pong set with “Presidential themed balls.” Those items could violate federal law restricting commercial use of the seal. While Trump’s golf courses have displayed the seal since at least 2021, the beer pong set and record player appear to be the first time the seal has appeared on merchandise tied to Trump.

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Trump Media pivots, still loses money

Truth Social’s parent company has effectively become a crypto holding company with a social-media side hustle. Either way, it’s losing money, and the stock is trading near its all-time low.

• “Trump Media Lost $54.8 Million Last Quarter—And Is On Track To Lose Far More” by me and Dan

• “Trump Bet Big On Bitcoin. His Timing Couldn’t Have Been Much Worse” by Dan

• “Trump Media General Counsel Sold Every Share He Could—Becoming Second Insider To Cut Stake”

• “Trump Media Rolls Out ETFs That Could Benefit From The President’s Policies”

• “Trump Media Gave CEO Devin Nunes $5.9 Million In Stock—Despite Firm’s $20 Million Loss”

But what does it all mean?

Glad you asked! My colleagues at Forbes tallied it all up late this summer—

• Donald Trump’s net worth is up about $2 billion in the past year, driven largely by cryptocurrency, reports Dan. (It was $3 billion when the article was published in September, but the crypto market has tanked of late.) Forbes now estimates Trump’s net worth is currently about $6.3 billion.

• Eric Trump’s estimated net worth jumped from $40 million last year to $750 million as of mid-September, report Dan and Kyle Khan-Mullins.

• Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, saw his net worth jump from about $50 million to $500 million, per Dan and Kyle.

• Nineteen-year-old college sophomore Barron Trump is now worth $150 million, reports Kyle. (Meaning Barron’s probably skipping out on the classic college ritual of living off instant ramen.)

Of course, unanswered questions remain: “Why No One Really Knows How Much Money The Trumps Are Making Right Now,” reports Dan.

A recap: How Trump still earns money in office

Trump can earn income from his businesses while in office through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.

He is its sole donor and beneficiary, while Donald Trump Jr. serves as the trustee, according to prior Trump Organization statements and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Trump Organization confirmed in an April 2025 regulatory filing in the United Kingdom that Trump retains control over his businesses.

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Other Trump Organization news

• “Eric Trump Removed From Board Role After Firm Consults Nasdaq”

• “Trump Family’s WLFI Token Debuts 5 To 15 Times Above Early Sale Prices Despite Drop” by me and Siladitya Ray

• “Donald Trump Jr.’s Expanding Business: After Joining 2nd New Board, U.S. Contracts Followed”

• “Trump Crypto Partner Suspends CEO With No Explanation After Stock Falls 74%”

• “Trump’s White House Demolition Isn’t His First Time Leveling A Building — Or Ignoring Preservationists”

• “Trump Saved This Vietnamese Real Estate Mogul’s Fortune. Now They Are Opening A Golf Resort Together” by Giacomo Tognini

• “Meet The Florida Sugar Barons Worth $4 Billion And Getting Sweet Deals From Donald Trump” by Chloe Sorvino

• “Why The Next Trump Project Might Be In Nashville” by Dan

• “Trump Is Now One Of America’s Biggest Bitcoin Investors” by Dan

Get in touch

Have a tip? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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From my latest for Forbes:

• “Trump and his family control about 40% of World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance platform launched in September 2024 that is building a blockchain-based protocol.

• On Oct. 15, 2024, World Liberty Financial began selling $WLFI, a crypto token that doesn’t convey ownership in the privately held company but gives holders voting rights on certain matters concerning the protocol, and at launch the tokens were nontransferable.

• An SEC filing made at the end of that month revealed World Liberty Financial sold $2.7 million worth of tokens to 348 accredited investors, with plans to sell no more than $30 million overall—keeping all proceeds inside the company with none flowing to Trump or other founders.

• But World Liberty Financial disclosed in an SEC filing last week (first flagged by independent journalist Wendy Siegelman) that it sold another $52.1 million of tokens to 1,966 investors—this time distributing $50.7 million to Trump and other founders, rather than retaining all proceeds within the company as in its initial sale.”

Read more at Forbes.

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Greetings from my parents’ couch in suburban Boston (no, not the nice couch—I’m still not allowed to sit on that one).

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Apologies for yelling, but—

A CHINESE BILLIONAIRE BATTLING CIVIL FRAUD CHARGES IN THE UNITED STATES SAID HE'S HELPING THE US PRESIDENT RAKE IN FOREIGN MONEY OFF A MEMECOIN.

Sun said he’s committed to buying another $100 million of Trump’s meme coin, too.

2017: ‘No new foreign deals’
2025: ‘The Trump train is coming to Eastern Europe🇷🇴’

Trump’s meme coin tried to profit off anniversary of assassination attempt

FIFA starts paying Trump but it’s OK because it’s out in the open

From “Fifa opens office in Trump Tower, deepening ties with US president” by Alexander Abnos for The Guardian:

Fifa’s relationship with the US president, Donald Trump, now has a physically tangible marker, with soccer’s world governing body announcing it has opened an office in Trump Tower in New York City.

The announcement of the new office came on Monday evening, after Fifa placed the Club World Cup trophy on display in the lobby of the skyscraper in an event attended by several Fifa dignitaries including its president, Gianni Infantino, and the Brazilian great Ronaldo as well as Eric Trump, the son of the US president and executive vice-president of the Trump Organization.

Read more.

Other Trump Organization news

• “The ‘Trump Pump’: How Crypto Lobbying Won Over a President” by David Yaffe-Bellany and Kenneth P. Vogel for The New York Times

• “I’m calling BS on the NYT’s whitewashing of this crypto bribery scheme. This isn’t legal. Sure: Trump’s corrupt Justice Department won’t prosecute anyone who bribes Trump. But that does not make the bribes legal.” – Washington University in St. Louis Law School professor Kathleen Clark

• “Plans being drawn up for potential Donald Trump UK visit in ‘coming weeks’: Sources have suggested to Sky News the US president is likely to touch down in Scotland to visit his golf courses at the end of July or beginning of August.” by Connor Gillies for Sky News

• Tate brother Tristan took a break from his busy schedule to plug Trump’s defi $WLFI token.

• It appears Fox News paid Lara Trump to interview her father-in-law.

• Trump Media has started beta testing a Patriot Package premium subscription on its Truth+ streaming platform, per a new SEC filing. It features “premium, non-woke news channels” and includes a crypto component.

• “An Austrian billionaire who allegedly once worked with East German Stasi spies links to a network tied to several Trump family deals” by Wendy Siegelman for NewsTRACS

• Trump Media announced on Tuesday it filed a registration with the SEC for the Truth Social Crypto Blue Chip ETF.

• “Top Trump Adviser Sergio Gor Was Born in the Soviet Union” by Jacob Borg for The Times of Malta and Misha Gagarin and Kevin G. Hall OCCRP. Gor co-founded Winning Team Publishing with Donald Trump Jr., which has paid the elder Donald Trump millions for books that largely consist of other people’s work.

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Have a tip or booking inquiry? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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For Forbes:

Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT), the parent company of Truth Social—of which Trump owns 114.8 million shares—announced Monday it’s beta testing an international rollout of its streaming platform, Truth+, aiming to expand beyond North America.

Trump Media CEO and chairperson Devin Nunes said in a statement accompanying the news: “International viewers who want to get the other side of the story will soon have an easy opportunity to do so.”

The global push follows Trump’s March executive order slashing Voice of America’s parent company’s work to the “minimum...required by law,” with the White House labeling the outlet “the voice of radical America.”

Voice of America is the largest U.S. international broadcaster, reaching 354 million people a week in 50 languages, and is funded by Congress “to provide comprehensive coverage of the news and tell audiences the truth,” according to its website.

Read more at Forbes.

Short week, short newsletter

Hope you’re enjoying your holiday weekend.

1100 Pennsylvania is free—so please share and, if you’re not already one, become a subscriber.

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‘Trump can keep serving booze in New Jersey—for now—under special new rules’

From my latest:

New Jersey granted temporary liquor permits to two of President Donald Trump’s golf clubs Monday—but is requiring alcohol profits be held in separate accounts and barring their payout to Trump’s companies—as the state’s investigation into whether his convictions disqualify the businesses from pouring enters its second year.

Read more at Forbes.

‘Why the stablecoin hype won't reach Americans’ wallets anytime soon’

With Trump’s World Liberty Financial in the stablecoin business, this piece by my colleague Jeff Kauflin provides some helpful insight on the overall market for the crypto currency:

From all this noise, it would seem like stablecoins are on the brink of disrupting mainstream payments everywhere. Yet that’s highly unlikely. When it comes to actual payments, consumers in developed economies like the U.S. lack incentives to adopt them in big numbers, and it’s unclear those incentives will ever surface. And domestic stablecoin payments don’t seem to be materially cheaper to process than the current system of card payments.

Read Jeff’s whole article at Forbes.

Other Trump Organization news

• “Trump’s Finances Were Shaky. Then He Began to Capitalize on His Comeback.” by Russ Buettner for The New York Times

• “Pharma Giant Roche Hires Trump to Sell Swanky Condo” by Russ Choma for Mother Jones

• “Trump rips AT&T service weeks after Trump Mobile licensing deal announced” by Erin Doherty for CNBC

• “Trump announces trade deal with Vietnam” by Emer Moreau for BBC

• “Trump Hotel Pays $4.8 Million to Resolve Complaint Over Killing Fish in Chicago” by Miranda Davis and Tom Maloney for Bloomberg

• On July 4th, the president’s only retail store sent out two email blasts. Which is atypical.

• At this point, we can all confidently report that Trump’s profiting off the presidency is intentional.

Get in touch

Have a tip or booking inquiry? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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On Friday, I joined Boston College history professor Heather Cox Richardson on a livestream to run through Donald Trump’s crypto ventures, how they overlap with his administration’s policies, and why this matters. Not sure I realized it until I was preparing for this chat, but the breadth of his crypto entanglements is quite impressive: stablecoins, memecoins, crypto ETFs, tokens, NFTs, defi, bitcoin reserves, and, soon, wallets.

My latest article on his crypto dealings was published last week: “President Trump’s Crypto Firm Expands Relationship With Embattled Blockchain Billionaire.” I joined my colleague Brittany Lewis to discuss the story in Forbes Newsroom.

I also chipped in with some reporting for my colleague Dan Alexander’s article, “Trump Company Reduces Stake In Crypto Venture.”

In a must-read (and save), Molly White mapped out Trump’s crypto ventures for her Citaton Needed newsletter.

Hi, this site is clean, I swear

It’s been a busy week, what with bombing Iran, the NYC mayoral primary, SCOTUS decisions, Trump’s big bill, the USWNT executing in top form in a 4-0 win and Bruce Springsteen out with seven (!) new albums. Thanks for taking time to get caught up on the latest news about Trump’s businesses.

Apologies to those of you who got warnings from your antivirus software when trying to visit the site after the last issue. My host and a third-party have both assured me everything is clean, and I’ve asked the firm that flagged the site to update its listing.

1100 Pennsylvania is free—so please share and, if you’re not already one, become a subscriber.

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Trump’s latest disclosure provides a new look at his finances

I published a couple articles on details from Trump’s latest annual financial disclosure, which he released on June 13:

• “Trump Made $57.4 Million From World Liberty Financial, New Filing Discloses”

• “Trump Made $3.4 Million From Books Consisting Mostly Of Other People’s Work, New Filing Shows”

My colleagues at Forbes also dug in:

• “Trump Just Disclosed He Received Millions Of Dollars From This Saudi Real Estate Developer Last Year” by Giacomo Tognini

• “How Barron Trump May Have Earned $40 Million From His Dad’s Crypto Venture” by Kyle Khan-Mullins and Dan Alexander

Trump Media board member who led SPAC merger sells nearly all his shares

“Eric Swider, one of seven board members at Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT) and a leader in the deal to take Truth Social public, has sold around 90% of his company stock—netting around $4.4 million before taxes—since November, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.”

Read more at Forbes or watch my interview with Brittany Lewis.

Trump launches ‘Made in America’ phone, then drops ‘Made in America’ reference

June 16: “‘Trump Mobile’ Cell Phone Service Announced In Latest Presidency Monetization Push” by Derek Saul for Forbes

June 25: “The Trump Phone no longer promises it’s made in America” by David Pierce for The Verge

Speaking of corrections…

From Dan Alexander’s “After Years Of Lying, Trump Organization Tries To Figure Out How Big Its Properties Actually Are”

Donald Trump spent so many years lying about the square footage of his properties that his own company did not even seem sure of their true size. Under oversight from a court-appointed monitor, the Trump Organization recently tried to sort it all out.

“The Trump Organization,” the monitor explained in a letter to a New York judge last month, “conducted a review and assessment of the physical square footage for each of its properties for inclusion in certain financial disclosures. The review sought to ensure consistency in the square footage reporting across the entire Trump Organization and to maintain a clear source of information for use in future disclosures.”

Read more at Forbes.

Please don’t publish a Trump family member’s lies about their businesses without any context. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Other Trump Organization news

• “Will Trump Pay E. Jean Carroll $89 Million? What To Know As Appeals Court Weighs Defamation Case” by Alison Durkee for Forbes

• “Trump’s Name Could Adorn Tel Aviv Hotel, Becoming a Symbol or a Target” by Debra KaminBen Protess and Steve Eder for The New York Times

• “Trump Organization pays off loan on 40 Wall Street in New York” by Tom Bergin for Reuters

• “Democratic Crypto Supporters To Offer Belated Push For Presidential Crypto Ban” by Arthur Delaney for HuffPost

Get in touch

Have a tip or booking inquiry? Email me at z_everson@protonmail.com or call/text/Signal 202.804.2744.

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From my latest for Forbes:

In a Truth Social post Thursday, Trump said his “very aggressive policy on immigration” is driving away long-time workers, citing complaints from the agricultural and hospitality industries—jobs those businesses are struggling to fill.

At the same time, the Trump Organization has consistently made use of temporary visa programs to hire foreign workers for Mar-a-Lago, four golf clubs and his Virginia winery—filing to bring in at least 1,880 seasonal workers since 2008, including 382 during Trump’s first term, according to Department of Labor data.

The company’s use of short-term, temporary visas has increased steadily in recent years, from requesting 121 in 2021 to asking for a high of 178 in 2024.

Read the full story.

Long time!

Good morning (or good whatever time of day you opened this)!

A few longtime readers asked if I’m still reporting on Trump. Yes! I’ve published 35 articles for Forbes, mostly on the his businesses, since he returned to the White House.

1100 Pennsylvania will start coming out weekly-ish, recapping my and others’ reporting, as well as posting stuff that didn’t make it into an article.

1100 Pennsylvania is free, so please share it with your friends and encourage them to subscribe to help reporting on the return of Trump’s for-profit presidency reach as large an audience as possible. Thanks!

Trump Org applies for sweeping trademark covering items from crypto wallet to virtual cologne

For Forbes:

On Feb. 24, DTTM Operations, an LLC fully owned by President Donald Trump through his revocable trust and with a Trump Tower address, applied to trademark “Trump” for possible use across dozens of crypto and tech-related products with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

One category of goods and services was “electrical and scientific apparatus,” including “downloadable computer software for managing cryptocurrency transactions using blockchain technology,” NFTs, virtual reality games with crypto tokens, VR headsets and tools for creating “virtual footwear.”

Trump’s team also outlined plans for a virtual store selling virtual goods like cologne, candy and spirits, along with digital ad services and online marketplaces.

Read the full story.

Trump’s Bedminster golf club flagged for 18 health violations in latest inspection—earned lowest grade In county

You can read the article here.

How this scoop came about—

1. On June 2, Trump plugged Kid Rock’s new restaurant on Truth Social.

2. A former food writer, I immediately wondered about its health inspection.

3. That led to the thought to check on the latest health inspections at Trump properties.

Thank you, Mr. President.

A couple days after we published, Trump Bedminster’s GM (who also is an adjunct professor of hospitality and tourism at Montclair State University) responded to an inquiry from The New York Times on the inspection:

“This is clearly nothing more than a politically motivated attack,” the club’s general manager, David Schutzenhofer, said in a statement that bore a certain resemblance to a typical rebuttal by the president and his aides.

“Never before have we witnessed such visceral hostility from the Health Department,” he said, adding, “We operate one of the most immaculate golf facilities in the country, and we take immense pride in our standards of cleanliness, safety and hospitality.”

FWIW, not that a health inspector can’t do their job independently of any political leanings, but there’s no record of this inspector contributing to a federal or state committee and her voter registration is inactive.

Read the full story.

All this reporting, but on video

After each article, I join Brittany Lewis on Forbes Newsroom to discuss the reporting.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel and see the videos as they get posted.

Who needs hotel rooms and office space when there’s crypto?

Upon Trump’s re-election, I set out to resume tracking who was popping up at his properties. It quickly hit me though that while those appearances might hint at who was trying to influence Trump, the money involved was a pittance compared to his crypto and other tech ventures. To that end—

“The 3 Easy New Ways Anyone Can Funnel Money Directly To Donald Trump’s Businesses”

And as my colleague Dan Alexander reported this week, “Crypto Now Accounts For Most Of Donald Trump’s Net Worth.”

Some more reporting of mine on the crypto front:

• “SEC Drops Binance Lawsuit Days After Crypto Exchange Lists Trump’s Stablecoin”

• “Trump Media’s $2.5 Billion Bitcoin Bet Mirrors White House Crypto Strategy”

• “Trump’s New Partner For Crypto Venture Is KuCoin — An Exchange Banned In U.S., Fined $300 Million For Money Laundering”

Of course, old school revenue streams continue to be good earners, too:

• “Trump’s Campaign Apparatus Paid His Company $18 Million For Flights—After Getting $13 Million From The Secret Service”

• “Trump Businesses Hauled In $317,000 From RNC In March—Even As Crypto Ventures Soar”

• “Trump Store Touts ‘Presidential Gold Note’ As Tariffs Rattle Markets And Gold Prices Soar”

Don Jr. and Eric get in on the act

• “Don Jr. And Eric Trump Joined By Three Trump Org Executives On Revived Advisory Board At Little-Known Firm”

• “Don Jr. And Eric Trump Could Soon Sell $9.6 Million In Stock Granted For Brief Advisory Board Tenure, SEC Filing Reveals”

• “Trump Sons Joined Dominari Holding’s Advisory Board–But There’s Little Public Record The Board Existed Beforehand”

• “Trading Volume In This Nasdaq-Listed Firm Soared Before Don Jr. And Eric Trump Were Announced As Advisory Board Members—‘Suspicious,’ Experts Say”

• “Trump’s Sons Invest In AI Data Centers After He Touts Billions In Industry Expansion”

• “Trump Media Paid Donald Trump Jr. Nearly A Quarter Of Its Annual Revenue. He Attended Just Two Board Meetings”

Is seems to be working out well for them! They could have each earned $20 million since their father took office again, my colleague Kyle Khan-Mullins reported.

A palette cleanser: some non-Trump reporting of mine

• “Lobbyist And Government Contractor Bought JD Vance’s Home For $170,000 Over Asking Price”

• “Marjorie Taylor Greene Urges DOJ Probe Into Tesla Protests—A Possible House Rules Violation Since She Owns The Company’s Stock”

• “FEC Moves Forward With Rulings—Despite Trump’s Contested Firing Of A Longtime Democratic Commissioner”

• “House Ethics Office Stymied As Johnson Delays Board Appointments—Even With Two Republicans Willing To Serve”

• “House Ethics Committee Blocked Its Website From Search Engines Amid Pressure Over Gaetz Investigation”

From “Here’s Who’s Paid Homage To Trump At Mar-a-Lago Since Election,” published today at Forbes:

Since Donald Trump’s re-election, Mar-a-Lago has transformed into a hub of political power not seen since, well, his D.C. hotel during his first term.

At least 16 billionaires, officials from eight foreign countries, 14 of Trump’s Cabinet picks, 22 governors, eight senators and 65 members of Congress have visited the president-elect’s Palm Beach estate. Social media posts, press conferences and attendee statements reveal a who’s who of global leaders, political heavyweights, and industry titans converging at Trump’s private club—a stark reminder of how intertwined his administration and business interests remain.

Here’s an inside look at some 125 notable visitors who made a trip to Trump’s Winter White House since the election.

Also, this nugget was kind of buried in the piece, but it looks like the government of Israel probably paid the Trump Org. to host an event at Mar-a-Lago. The club hosted the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast on Jan. 14. Per the press release, “The Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast is a unique initiative spearheaded by the Israeli Knesset.”

Read more: “Here’s Who’s Paid Homage To Trump At Mar-a-Lago Since Election”

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Who needs hotel rooms and office space when there’s crypto?

There might be other ways to interpret these Tweets, but—

Looks like Trump’s crypto outlet bought $20 million of Ether on Sunday in anticipation of Trump’s administration making crypto-friendly policies on Day 1. (Thanks for the insight, Eric.)

Trump’s businesses hired more foreign workers than ever in 2024

On Sept. 29, Donald Trump posted an inflammatory, if somewhat typical for him, message on Truth Social: “To all Rapists, Drug Dealers, Human Traffickers, and Murderers, WELCOME TO AMERICA! It is important that you send a THANK YOU note to Lyin’ Kamala Harris, because without her, you would not be here. We don’t want you, and we’re going to get you out!”

Two days later, 118 foreign nationals were scheduled to start working at Mar-a-Lago.

And if you’re wondering if this practice will stop one Trump re-enters the White House, his Virginia winery is looking for 31 foreign laborers to start working next month.

Read more: “Trump’s Business Hired More Foreign Workers Than Ever In 2024”

More on Trump’s financial interests

Some other articles on Trump I’ve published recently at Forbes—

• “Trump Breaks Tradition By Redirecting Inaugural Swag Funds To His PAC”

• “Trump Taps Business Associate Of Megadonor Timothy Mellon For Railroad Role”

• “Linda McMahon, Trump’s Education Pick, Bankrolled His Raucous Madison Square Garden Rally”

• “No, She Won’t Back Down. Lara Trump Has An Album Coming Out As Senate Buzz Swirls”

Listen: Mission Implausible’s ‘Shenanigans at 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue’

I joined former high-level CIA operatives John Sipher and Jerry O’Shea’s Mission Implausible podcast recently to share my reporting on Trump’s D.C. hotel, including all the ways that foreign power brokers were able to channel payments to Trump through his hotels and could again. I also got John and Jerry’s expert takes on just how much foreign operatives might take advantage of Trump’s businesses.

From my colleagues at Forbes

• “Donald Trump Launches $TRUMP Meme Coin—Token Nears $6 Billion Market Cap” by Ty Roush

• “How Trump Can Sell His Truth Social Stock Without Paying A Dime In Taxes” by Kyle Khan-Mullins

• “Here’s How Much Cash Donald Trump Spends Each Year” by Dan Alexander

• “Military Tech Investors Go Looking For A Trump Bump At Mar-a-Lago” by David Jeans

• “Mark Cuban’s Properties In Trump International Tower Are Worth More Than Trump’s” by Jemima McEvoy

• “Can Trump Face Criminal Trials After Leaving Office? What To Know—As Jack Smith Argues He Could’ve Been Found Guilty” by Alison Durkee

Other notable sightings

A glimpse of the foreign officials, government employees, politicians, lobbyists, and the like who patronize or appear at Trump businesses. Most people shown here have reasons to want to influence the former president, rely on his good graces for their livelihoods, or should have been providing oversight. Additionally, high-profile guests serve as draws for paying customers.

Jeff Bezos visited at least his second different Trump business since the proprietor’s election in November. He was at Trump’s D.C.-area golf club for an inaugural celebration. Here he poses with model Maria Borges and Paolo Zampoli, a longtime friend of Trump’s who is Dominica’s ambassador to the United Nations

Cindy Jacobs— a self-proclaimed prophet—was a featured speaker at the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast that Israel’s Knesset hosted at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday. Jacobs previously had held “experiences with God” at Trump’s D.C. hotel.

Old habits…

More Trump Organization news

• “The Trumps Are in Talks to Reclaim Their Prized D.C. Hotel” by Craig Karmin for The Wall Street Journal

• “An Illustrated Guide to Trump’s Conflict of Interest Risks” by Karen Yourish, Eric Lipton, and Lazaro Gamio for The New York Times

• “Anger as Donald Trump’ Scottish resort to host show by far-right ‘hate-monger’” by Martyn McLaughlin for The Scotsman

• “Trump and allies blur the lines between politician and influencer” by Drew Harwell for The Washington Post

• “The Tech Industrial Complex Greets Trump 2.0 With Galas and Sky-High Hopes” by Nick Wingfield, Steve LeVine, Yueqi Yang, and Julia Black for The Information

Oops

Trump Media director Eric Swider sold all of the stock he owned directly in the company on Friday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made Tuesday night. Previously, Swider had been the CEO of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company that merged with Trump Media in March.

Swider did not respond to an inquiry. Via an LLC, he still owns another 18,000 shares in Trump Media.

Two other company insiders also sold substantial amounts of stock over the past few days. Chief financial officer Phillip Juhan dumped 384,000 shares, more than half of his holdings, while general counsel and secretary Scott Glabe sold 16,000 shares.

Trump Store debuts merchandise collection pegged to return to the presidency

From my latest, for Forbes:

Less than 18 hours after Vice President Kamala Harris conceded, the Trump Store sent an email blast on Thursday blaring “EXCLUSIVE ACCESS | The 45-47 Collection Just Launched.” For sale on its website were 21 products, ranging from $28 mugs to $195 Zero Restriction brand pullovers, all emblazoned with “45 47” stacked on top of each other and encircled by 50 stars. Trump, of course, was the 45th and will be the 47th president. As of Monday evening, three of the items—a ladies pullover and two colors of the “45-47 old school sweatshirt”—were no longer available, while sizes were sold out for many other items.

The article goes on to look at the Trump Store’s history, including its financials. Read the rest of “Trump Store Debuts Merchandise Collection Pegged To Election Victory.”

Also, just to get this out of the way: almost all of my reporting at Forbes appears behind a paywall. As anyone who works in or reads about media knows, ad revenue alone doesn’t do the trick these days. Much appreciated if you’d consider subscribing, if you can swing it. Thanks!

Follow reporters on the Trump Org. beat on Bluesky

With the ongoing Elonification of Twitter, social-media platform Bluesky has enjoyed a huge spike in users recently. If you’re new there and looking for accounts to follow, I created a starter pack of reporters on the Trump Org. beat.

Please let me know whom I’m missing (and Dan Alexander, Susanne Craig, and Dave Fahrenthold, your presences have been requested).

Also, I’ve created a starter pack of my amazing colleagues at Forbes. Please give them a follow, too.

Other notable sightings

A glimpse of the foreign officials, government employees, politicians, lobbyists, and the like who patronize or appear at Trump businesses. Most people shown here have reasons to want to influence the former president, rely on his good graces for their livelihoods, or should have been providing oversight. Additionally, high-profile guests serve as draws for paying customers.

Nigel Farage, an MP and Leader of Reform UK, was at Mar-a-Lago on election night.

Trump property regular Martha Boneta Fain got a closeup with Elon Musk at Mar-a-Lago on election night. Fain, a small farmer in Virginia, became an advisor to some pro-Trump groups during his first term. In 2019-2020, she was paid $200,000 to lobby the White House and Congress on behalf of a Kuwaiti company.

Hary Tanoesoedibjo also celebrated Trump’s win with him at Mar-a-Lago. He’s an Indonesian media mogul worth about $1.5 billion. Tanoesoedibjo led one of the country’s political parties until earlier this year, when he passed it off to his daughter.

Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) hung out poolside with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy at the president-elect’s private club and home.

Looks like Trump II is going to give us the opportunity to get reacquainted with old friends the MyPillow Guy and Silk.

Other Trump Organization news

• “Trump Hush Money Case—Including Sentencing—Paused After Presidential Win” by Alison Durkee, for Forbes

• “Mark Cuban’s Properties In Trump International Tower Are Worth More Than Trump’s” by Jemima McEvoy for Forbes

• “Donald Trump Jr. Opts Out of White House to Join 1789 Capital” by Amanda L. Gordon for Bloomberg

• “At Mar-a-Lago, ‘Uncle’ Elon Musk Puts His Imprint on the Trump Transition” by Theodore Schleifer for the New York Times

• “Man arrested a 2nd time for trespassing on Trump's Mar-a-Lago home” by Alexa Herrera for Tampa Bay 10 WTSP

Inject gov’t spending at Trump properties data straight into my laptop pls

America voted, by a comfortable margin, it appears, for a return to Donald Trump's for-profit presidency.

While Trump’s business interests have changed over the past four years--good-bye money-losing D.C. hotel, hello money-losing social-media platform--I believe the best way to document the ethical swamp we’re about to be mired in is to track every single conflict as they happen.

To that end, Trump Store dot com is already hawking “47”-themed baseball hats ($55).

As for what that coverage will look like on this end, stay tuned. I’m at Forbes where the money-in-politics team has remained locked in on investigating Trump’s finances (don’t just take my word for it, you can ask Allen Weisselberg). We’ll be fleshing out what that approach will look like in the coming weeks.

Have any thoughts on how to best report on the conflicts on Trump II? I am very interested in hearing them--

• Email z_everson@protonmail.com

• Mobile/Signal 202.804.2744

As for 1100 Pennsylvania, I’m leaning toward relaunching it as a fully free newsletter, consolidating coverage from Forbes and other outlets. I’ll also be sharing observations that may not make it into full articles but are worth noting.

In the meantime, follow Forbes' Trump coverage at the author pages for the money-in-politics team:

• Me

• Dan Alexander

• Kyle Mullins

Please encourage friends and colleagues to subscribe to 1100 Pennsylvania. The more people who are informed about Trump’s commingling of his administration and his businesses, the better.

Thanks for reading.

Best,
Zach

After 455 dispatches, today marks 1100 Pennsylvania’s final issue. I am thrilled to (finally) share that two weeks ago I joined Forbes as a staff writer covering money and politics.

That beat includes Forbes’s new Checks & Imbalances newsletter. “Tipping the scales toward transparency by investigating money in politics,” Checks & Imbalances will continue to report on Trump, but I’ve broadened my focus to follow the money connected to other politicians as well—both Republicans and Democrats.

The inaugural issue of Checks & Imbalances is set to appear in your inboxes this morning you received this dispatch.

What this change means for you

• If you’re a paid subscriber to 1100 Pennsylvania, your subscription carries over to Forbes with the same terms. That is, if you have three weeks left on you monthly paid subscription to 1100 Pennsylvania, that’s how much time remains on your Checks & Imbalances subscription.

• If you’d signed up just for the free issues of 1100 Pennsylvania, you’ll receive three free weeks of complete access to Checks & Imbalances. If you haven’t paid for a subscription by the end of that trial, you’ll just get Checks & Imbalances’ free issues on Thursdays—and miss out on the exclusive reporting published on Mondays and Saturdays. The price is $8.99 a month or $79.99 a year. (Why the increase from 1100 Pennsylvania? Checks & Imbalances appears in a well-resourced publication rather than on a platform and is a better product.)

• There’s no need for any action on your part—unless you’re on the free list and want to upgrade to a paid subscription.

• 1100 Pennsylvania’s archives remain right where they are and are accessible to anyone with a paid subscription as of June 5. If you’re a future person who’s not a paid subscriber and wants access to all the old stuff, email me or my estate at 1100pennsylvania@protonmail.com.

The many, many benefits of Forbes

Journalists jettisoning staff positions to publish indie newsletters on Substack is a bit of a trend these days. But going the opposite way and joining Forbes is clearly the best move for my reporting.

For starters, I now have an editor who I’m excited to be working with: the meticulous Dan Alexander, who literally wrote the book on Trump turning his presidency into a business. And joining Forbes means my reporting also benefits from a wealth of talented colleagues and resources, as well as an engaged community of millions.

After four years of focusing on President Trump’s business, I’m eager to dig into money connected to other politicians as well—both Republicans and Democrats.

(And on a personal note, it’s really cool to write for a publication you saw on your grandfather’s table as a kid.)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Thanks to everyone who subscribed to 1100 Pennsylvania—it means so much to me and I’m eager to continue reporting for you—as well as those who sent in a tip, shared this work, sent words of encouragement, and otherwise supported the newsletter,

Also, much appreciation to the other journalists who championed 1100 Pennsylvania, especially in its early days when I wasn’t sure how much interest there’d be in a travel writer’s compendium of screenshots.

Particular thanks to David Fahrenthold (Fun fact: I set an alert for every time he tweeted so I’d know when he was using Twitter. When I got a notification, I’d tweet a link to 1100 Pennsylvania in the hopes he’d see it and retweet it to his legions of followers. Sorry for cluttering up your timeline, Dave.), Jonathan O’Connell, Andrea Bernstein, Ilya Marritz, Meg Cramer, Ana Marie Cox, Katie Rogers, Eric Lipton, Karen Yourish, Michael Isikoff, Hunter Walker, Jeffrey Toobin, Andréa Schmidt, Martyn McLaughlin, everyone at The Beat with Ari Melber and All In with Chris Hayes, Dave Levinthal, Meredith Bennett-Smith, Nicolas Buechse, François Miguet, Katelyn Fossett, Blake Hounshell, Josh Bernstein, Ben Landy, Clara Jeffrey, David Corn, Daniel Schulman, Russ Choma, Rob Crilly, Christine Stapleton, David Frum, Marcus Baram, Suzanne Rowan Kelleher, and of course Dan Alexander.

Thanks to my parents for paying for their subscription even though I offered them a comp. And apologies (again) to my wife and kids that my days of taking them on Disney Cruises and glamping trips for work are over.

After 11 requests, Democrats leading a House committee with oversight of the Trump Hotel D.C.’s lease have obtained the business’s financial statements from the General Services Administration.

What changed? The latest ask was the first the representatives made when the leaseholder of the government-owned building that houses the hotel was no longer the U.S. president.

On Friday in a filing made in a different case, the Justice Department disclosed that GSA, which manages the lease, provided “certain materials…on a confidential basis” about the Trump Hotel D.C.—including its monthly financial statements—on May 5 to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The contents of the department’s letter were first reported by Jeremy Herb and Katelyn Polantz for CNN.

In March, the chair of that panel, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), and the chair of a subcommittee with oversight of the government’s real estate programs, Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV), had asked GSA Acting Administrator Katy Kale for the Trump Hotel D.C.’s financial reports, communication between the agency and the White House regarding the hotel, and internal memos regarding the legality of the lease.

The Trump Organization’s lease of the Old Post Office includes a provision requiring profit sharing with the taxpayers if certain revenue thresholds are met. But Trump-era GSA officials testified that the agency had not audited the financial info the hotel is required to furnish. And the Trump appointee heading GSA, Emily Murphy, repeatedly refused to provide unredacted financial information to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee—even defying a subpoena from DeFazio.

According to Friday’s court filing, however, GSA is still declining to provide requested legal memoranda, claiming the documents constitute “confidential internal executive branch legal advice.” As for the materials the agency did provide, it asked lawmakers not to disclose the information as it contains “trade secrets or confidential commercial or financial information that is exempt from public release.”

A spokesperson for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee declined to share details about the trove or what the panel’s next steps may be.

The Justice Department’s filing that revealed the extent of GSA’s cooperation came in a suit brought by the House Oversight Committee that also seeks documents regarding the Trump Hotel D.C.

Trump Hotel D.C. jacked up prices ahead of Qanon key date in March to prevent believers from booking rooms, report

From “Trump hotel purposely spiked prices to keep out QAnon supporters, hacked police data reveals” by Mikael Thalen for The Daily Dot [bold added]:

The Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C. purposely spiked its prices in March in an effort to keep out supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory, hacked police data reveals.

In a Feb. 8 intelligence briefing posted to the dark web on Thursday by the Babuk ransomware gang, which hacked Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) last month, the MPD Intelligence Division reveals that it contacted the hotel after news reports noted the unexplained price hike.

As 1100 Pennsylvania reported on Feb. 5 when it broke the story of the Trump Hotel D.C.’s rate spike:

From 1793 to 1933, U.S. presidents typically were inaugurated on March 4. The date changed to January 20 upon ratification of the Twentieth Amendment in 1933. And after Democrats weren’t rounded up and executed on Jan. 20, 2021 as Qanon lore had foretold, many believers of the con simply pushed back the date of the storm to March 4.

Meanwhile, the lowest available room rates on March 3 and 4 at the Trump Hotel D.C. are more than double the prices for any other day that month according to the hotel’s website.

Rates at the Trump Hotel D.C. also spiked around the Jan. 6 rally that led to the insurrection at the Capitol. Although in that instance, the cost doesn’t appear to have prevented many bookings: the hotel’s manager boasted that the in-room dining team enjoyed “record breaking numbers” that week.

Annual Tea for Trump at namesake’s hotel canceled after organizer died

An annual birthday celebration at the Trump Hotel D.C. for Donald J. Trump has been canceled after the event’s organizer died.

Alice Butler-Short, the owner of Virginia Women for Trump, died on March 30, according to an obituary on the website for an Alexandria, Virginia funeral chapel and confirmed by one of Butler-Short’s friends.

A private company that often described itself as “not-for-profit,” Virginia Women for Trump hosted an annual Tea for Trump birthday celebration at the Trump Hotel D.C. since 2017 (the 2018 renewal featured a MAGA-themed fashion show scored in part to North Korea’s national anthem).

This year’s party has been canceled and refunds are being given per the celebration’s Eventbrite listing. Tickets had cost $135 to $5,000. The 2021 Tea for Trump had been scheduled for June 13 with former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn and The MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell headlining.

Butler-Short was most recently in the news after organizing a Jan. 5 rally in front of the Supreme Court in support of Trump’s Big Lie that the election had been stolen, according to a report by Paul P. Murphy and Marshall Cohen for CNN.

Campaign expenditures

The campaign for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) paid $1,520.96 to Trump Palm Beach for registration on April 12. The expenditure appears to have been the Paul campaign’s first at a Trump property.

Other notable sightings

A glimpse of the foreign officials, government employees, politicians, lobbyists, and the like who patronize or appear at Trump businesses. Most people shown here have reasons to want to influence the former president, rely on his good graces for their livelihoods, or should have been providing oversight. Additionally, high-profile guests serve as draws for paying customers.

Audra Johnson, a Republican candidate for U.S. House in Michigan, met with freedom fighters at the former president’s D.C. hotel.

Former Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services Michael Caputo celebrated his health with a photo from his former boss’s resort.

Other Trump Organization news

• “Prosecutors seek cooperation of Trump confidant, subpoena Manhattan private school” by Corinne Ramey for The Wall Street Journal

• “Dump Trump? Kicking him off NYC golf course may not be easy” by Bernard Condon for The Associated Press

• “Trump considers contenders to be his new social-media outlet after Big Tech crackdown” by Keach Hagey for The Wall Street Journal

• “How Palm Beach is preparing for a possible Trump indictment” by Tara Palmeri, Ryan Lizza, Rachael Bade, and Eugene Daniels for Politico

Reference section

Links to rundowns of developments in the House’s investigations and lawsuits, reference sheets for some of 1100 Pennsylvania’s previous reporting, and articles that provide the background on why all of this matters. The date published or last updated is in parentheses.

Trackers

• House investigations (Dec. 20, 2020)

• Lawsuits (Jan. 26, 2021)

• Breakdown of judges’ rulings by political party of presidents who nominated them (July 13, 2020)

• Health inspections (Oct. 6, 2020)

• COVID-19 bailouts and charity (Nov. 30, 2020)

Notable customers

• Politicians spotted at Mar-a-Lago post-presidency (May 11, 2021)

• Foreign governments with representatives spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.: 33 (Sept. 22, 2020)

• Trump cabinet members spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.: 28 of 37 (Jan 21, 2021)

• U.S. Senators who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: 35 of 65 Republicans, one Democrat (Jan. 21, 2021)

• House Judiciary members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Seven of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (Sept. 25, 2020)

• House Intelligence members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Four of eight Republicans, no Democrats (June 1, 2020)

• House Oversight members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Nine of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (Aug. 2, 2020)

• House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Four out of six Republicans, one Democrat (July 1, 2020)

• Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) found Trump’s hotels competitive only after Trump’s election (Sept. 12, 2019)

• Rudy Giuliani at the Trump Hotel D.C: A retrospective (April 30, 2019)

Summaries

• “Stay to play: Inside the sordid history of Trump’s D.C. hotel—And why the president’s prized property could be headed for a reckoning” by your correspondent for Mother Jones (September 2020)

• “Power tripping in the swamp: How Trump’s D.C. hotel swallowed Washington
  The MAGA social scene is a movable feast, but its dark heart resides within the Old Post Office Building, where the Trump Org operates under a mercenary charter” by your correspondent for Vanity Fair (October 2019)

• “Inside the world’s most controversial hotel: The hotel that was expected to take its place among the crown jewels of D.C.’s travel scene has become a magnet for protestors, a West Wing Annex, and—possibly—the center of a constitutional crisis.” by your correspondent for Condé Nast Traveler (May 2018)

Upcoming key dates

• Sept. 23, 2019—House Judiciary Committee hearing “Presidential corruption: Emoluments and profiting off the presidency” (postponed, not yet rescheduled)

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From “Can the Club for Growth survive Donald Trump?” by Simon Van Zuylen-Wood for Politico Magazine in October 2016 [bold added]:

From the moment Trump announced his candidacy in the summer of 2015 until he clinched the Republican nomination a year la…

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) dined with former President Donald J. Trump Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago, bringing to at least six the number of GOP senators who have visited his private club-cum-residence since he left office.

House Republicans have called on Mar-a-Lago at a clip just lower than that of their cohorts in the upper chamber, according to 1100 Pennsylvania’s running analysis. At least 15 of 212 congresspeople (7 percent) haven been there since House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sent the message that it was acceptable to still visit a Trump business after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Additionally, Mar-a-Lago has hosted at least two sitting Republican governors, three gubernatorial challengers, three candidates for U.S. Senate, and nine aspirants for the U.S. House.

Several of these elected officials and candidates held campaign events at Mar-a-Lago, directly helping the GOP standard-bearer profit. And all of these dignitaries have served as draws for the club’s members and other customers.

Trump’s nearby golf courses in Palm Beach and Doral have witnessed an influx of GOP notables as well.

Here’s the latest batch of notable sightings.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) let the world know he enjoyed a great dinner with Trump Tuesday night at Mar-a-Lago.

A GOP candidate for governor in New Jersey, pastor Phil Rizzo enjoyed a remembrance while at the former president’s house. Rizzo is a member of Trump Bedminster, reported David Wildstein for The New Jersey Globe.

Republican candidate for U.S. House in Florida and “proud Islamophobe” (as Jared Holt reported for Right Wing Watch) Laura Loomer enjoyed another photo op with the former president at his house.

At Mar-a-Lago, a GOP candidate for a U.S. House seat in Florida, Cory Mills, landed the coveted Trump fist bump and reciprocal finger point.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller popped up at the former president’s home, which is not in Texas.

At Mar-a-Lago last week, former leader of the U.K. Independence Party and one-time member of the European Parliament Nigel Farage checked out the ex-president and approved.

Former U.S. Ambassadors Randy Evans (Luxembourg), Peter Hokestra (the Netherlands), Lana Marks (South Africa), and Carla Sands (Denmark) lunched and breakfasted (?) at their former benefactor’s business. Sands is weighing a run for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, reported Jonathan Tamari for The Philadelphia Inquirer. [H/T @SpaSuzy]

Meanwhile, Newsmax personality John Cardillo noted that “Trump DC, in fact all of DC, is a ghost town.”

Reference section

Links to rundowns of developments in the House’s investigations and lawsuits, reference sheets for some of 1100 Pennsylvania’s previous reporting, and articles that provide the background on why all of this matters. The date published or last updated is in parentheses.

Trackers

• House investigations (Dec. 20, 2020)

• Lawsuits (Jan. 26, 2021)

• Breakdown of judges’ rulings by political party of presidents who nominated them (July 13, 2020)

• Health inspections (Oct. 6, 2020)

• COVID-19 bailouts and charity (Nov. 30, 2020)

Notable customers

• Politicians spotted at Mar-a-Lago post-presidency (May 5, 2021)

• Foreign governments with representatives spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.: 33 (Sept. 22, 2020)

• Trump cabinet members spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.: 28 of 37 (Jan 21, 2021)

• U.S. Senators who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: 35 of 65 Republicans, one Democrat (Jan. 21, 2021)

• House Judiciary members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Seven of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (Sept. 25, 2020)

• House Intelligence members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Four of eight Republicans, no Democrats (June 1, 2020)

• House Oversight members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Nine of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (Aug. 2, 2020)

• House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Four out of six Republicans, one Democrat (July 1, 2020)

• Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) found Trump’s hotels competitive only after Trump’s election (Sept. 12, 2019)

• Rudy Giuliani at the Trump Hotel D.C: A retrospective (April 30, 2019)

Summaries

• “Stay to play: Inside the sordid history of Trump’s D.C. hotel—And why the president’s prized property could be headed for a reckoning” by your correspondent for Mother Jones (September 2020)

• “Power tripping in the swamp: How Trump’s D.C. hotel swallowed Washington
  The MAGA social scene is a movable feast, but its dark heart resides within the Old Post Office Building, where the Trump Org operates under a mercenary charter” by your correspondent for Vanity Fair (October 2019)

• “Inside the world’s most controversial hotel: The hotel that was expected to take its place among the crown jewels of D.C.’s travel scene has become a magnet for protestors, a West Wing Annex, and—possibly—the center of a constitutional crisis.” by your correspondent for Condé Nast Traveler (May 2018)

Upcoming key dates

• Sept. 23, 2019—House Judiciary Committee hearing “Presidential corruption: Emoluments and profiting off the presidency” (postponed, not yet rescheduled)

• March 30, 2021—Deadline for GSA to provide information on the Trump Hotel D.C.’s lease to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

Subscribe now

Give a gift subscription

Questions? Read our FAQ. Tips or feedback? Contact Zach Everson at 1100Pennsylvania@protonmail.com (it’ll be encrypted if you also use a ProtonMail account, which is free) or via Signal (secure), SMS, or mobile at 202.804.2744.

Former President Donald J. Trump and former declarer of “enough is enough”Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spoke to golfers who forked over $25,000 to play in last weekend’s Trump Graham Golf Classic at Trump Palm Beach. Mississippi State Sen. Joel Carter (R) and Mississip…

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A conference that in the past has featured anti-vaxxers, Qanon promoters, and top officials in the Trump Administration is returning to one of former President Donald J. Trump’s properties.

Earlier this m…

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Despite claims that it eschews the practice, the Trump Organization appears to have profited again from holding an event for one of its associated charities.

On April 15, Mar-a-Lago was the venue for a tiki lounge party to support Curetivity, the rebranded Eric Trump Foundation. Rechristened in 2017 after Eric said he was ceasing “all direct fundraising efforts of my foundation…during the tenure of my father’s presidency,” the nonprofit raises funds for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Eric Trump also had said, “We get to use our assets 100% free of charge,” as Dan Alexander reported for Forbes in 2017. It’s a claim that has proved false in the past and appears to be wrong again.

An invite to the April 15 party posted on Facebook lists Peter and Stephanie Lamelas as the hosts for the event (more on them later). If the Trumps do in fact donate their assets for free to Curetivity as Eric claimed, its not clear why the Lamelases are listed as the hosts of a Curetivity fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago.

Eric Trump, Peter Lamelas, and representatives from Curetivity, and the Trump Organization have not replied to 1100 Pennsylvania’s inquiries about how much, if anything, Mar-a-Lago was paid to host the tiki lounge, and, if the use of the resort was in fact donated, why the Lamelases’ names appear at the top of the invite.

Former President Trump attended the benefit, which was at his home after all.

Last Thursday’s party was just the latest example of the Trumps’ charitable outreach, businesses interests, and political lives overlapping. As 1100 Pennsylvania reported earlier—

• “Trump administration appointed a donor to The Eric Trump Foundation to a $160,000/year position in the Small Business Administration”—Dec. 14, 2020

• “Of the 10 golf courses participating in the rebranded Eric Trump Foundation’s Golf for a CURE campaign, all of them are Trump properties.”—Oct. 20, 2020

• “Rebranded Eric Trump Foundation spent $193,000 hosting a fundraiser at Trump Westchester”—April 15, 2020

• “Curetivity—the former Eric Trump Foundation from which Eric “cease[d] all direct fundraising efforts” during the duration of his father’s presidency in 2016—held another event at a Trump property. Eric attended.”—Feb. 13, 2020

• “Eric’s fundraising for his former foundation, again”—Oct. 16, 2019

• “Eric’s ex foundation deploys Eric to raise funds”—Sept. 10, 2019

• “Eric Trump's rebranded charity booked Mar-a-Lago for dinner dance”—Sept. 3, 2019

• “Eric Trump'‘s rebranded charity is returning to Trump Westchester”—June 28, 2019

• “In a single retweet, the U.S. president promoted his golf course, a charity associated with his son, and a Trump business regular”—May 16, 2019

The tiki party’s occurrence was first reported by Adam Schrader for The Daily Mail.

For their part, the Lamelases, the founders of an urgent care provider, have supported the Trumps in their philanthropic, professional, and political pursuits. According to filings with the Federal Election Commissions, the couple has contributed more than $500,000 to GOP causes since 2000, with most of those donations coming during Trump’s presidency.

In December 2020, then-President Trump appointed Peter Lamelas to a spot on the Justice Department’s Valor Review Board, which considers nominations for the nation’s highest honor for public safety officers. Lamelas is the only current board member without a background in law enforcement.

The Lamelases have since made a habit of sponsoring parties at Mar-a-Lago. In February the pair co-sponsored a $10,600-a-couple fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago to benefit Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO), as reported by Marc Caputo of Politico.

And this Saturday, the Lamelases are slated to resume their hosting duties at Mar-a-Lago, this time at a $5,000 per couple fundraiser to benefit the House Freedom Fund, as Erik Maulbetsch reported for The Colorado Times Recorder. Seven members of the House and one former president are expected to attend.

Hundreds honor Lincoln, Trump at Mar-a-Lago

Last Saturday, the president’s resort-cum-home welcomed hundreds of supporters for the Republican Party of Palm Beach County’s Lincoln Day Dinner.

Tickets ranged from $425 to $25,000 for a presidential sponsorship. According to event’s website, the dinner sold out.

And while the dinner’s invite said Covid-19 protocols required attendees “To wear a mask throughout the property when inside” [bold added], footage from the dinner showed that guidance was largely ignored. (But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) didn’t seem to mind.)

As for attendees of note—

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross called on their former boss at one of his places of business.

DeSantis (R) made yet another visit to Mar-a-Lago.

Trump and Pompeo each posed for photos with GOP candidate for a U.S. House seat in Florida, Laura Loomer. (She declared herself a “proud Islamophobe,” reported Jared Holt for Right Wing Watch.)

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) made yet another visit to Mar-a-Lago.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and an advisor flexed (reportedly) with actor Kevin Sorbo at the GOP standard-bearer’s business.

Anthony Sabatini, a Florida state rep running in a GOP primary for a U.S. House seat in Florida had a great night at the president’s business.

Other Trump Organization news

• “Trump’s Florida clubs remain a must stop for Republican stars and hopefuls alike” by your correspondent for NBC News

• The former president and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are hosting the Trump-Graham Golf Classic at Trump Palm Beach on May 2, reported Punchbowl News. The entry fee is $25,000 per person.

• “Mo Brooks to hold Senate campaign reception at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club by Paul Gatts for Al.com

• “Andrew Giuliani to meet with Trump as he preps NY gubernatorial bid” by Gabby Orr for CNN

• “GOP Rep. Jason Smith has also been mentioned as a potential candidate for the [Missouri’s open U.S. Senate] seat, as has GOP Rep. Billy Long, both of whom will be appearing at separate fundraising events next week at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in South Florida,” reported Alex Isenstadt for Politico

• “Trump wants you to boycott Coke. His properties are still serving it” by Nathaniel Meyersohn for CNN

• Attorneys for the Trump Org and two House committees told the court they have been in negotiations regarding the panels’ subpoenas of Trump’s financial info from Deutsche Bank.

• “Molly Forbes: Pensioner who took on Donald Trump over Aberdeenshire golf course dies aged 96” by Alison Campsie for The Scotsman

Monday

• Florida properties teem with GOP luminaries (while D.C. hotel appears forsaken, mostly): Social media posts show Mar-a-Lago, Doral, and Palm Beach bustling with Republican bigwigs

Read Monday’s 1100 Pennsylvania.

Read more