John

FIRST: Manhattan jury ordered Trump to pay the writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her after she accused him of raping her.

THEN: A New York judge found Trump liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth and ordered him to pay a penalty of nearly $364 million, plus millions of dollars in interest.

That means Trump’s on the hook for more than half a billion dollars – that’s a serious financial blow to the former president (we’ve been tracking Trump’s finances for *years* – so we know). These payments are likely to eat up most if not all of his accessible cash – and that’s bad news for ALL of us.

Why does Trump’s financial peril hurt us? Well, Trump isn’t just a debt-ridden billionaire – he’s also running to serve a second term as president of the United States. And for any candidate for public office — let alone the presidency — owing such significant amounts of money could be a serious liability.

To be honest, Trump’s ballooning debt is pretty scary from an ethics perspective.

We know that Donald Trump’s presidency was riddled with financial conflicts of interest but now, his financial situation makes him even more of a prime target for corruption and exploiting his office for his own personal gain. We can’t let that happen.

Trump came into office in 2017 carrying HUGE amounts of debt and at least two years of eight-figure losses while overseeing a struggling international business empire.

Trump left the presidency with at least $1.1 billion dollars in debt tied to the COVID-weakened commercial real estate market. But a review of Trump’s financial disclosures by CREW revealed that Donald Trump reported making more than $1.6 BILLION in outside revenue and income during his four years as president.

Every president in modern times has divested conflicting assets — but not Trump.

Trump’s presidency was marred by unprecedented conflicts of interest arising from his decision not to divest from the Trump Organization – in total, he disclosed more than $1,600,000,000 in revenue from the Trump Organization.

Not to mention the money he was making from foreign governments – again, while president!

• Some of his worst conflicts arose around his Doonbeg golf course in Ireland, where he made almost $25 million, and his Turnberry and Aberdeen golf properties in Scotland, where he made more than $58 million.
• Qatar purchased a $6.5 million condo in Trump World Tower, and started renting space in the “most valuable asset” in Trump’s portfolio — a San Francisco building he co-owns — directing $125,000 per year in rent to Trump.
• Trump raked in money from the United Arab Emirates through his Dubai golf course amid concerns about corruption and human rights abuses in the country. Before taking office, Trump was paid as much as $10 million in royalties from the golf course and other projects in Dubai.

Even post-presidency he’s been keeping the grift going! Members of Congress, his administration, political supporters, special interests and foreign governments flocked to his properties in numbers never seen before.

Despite his financial ups and downs, one thing is remarkably consistent: Trump’s laser focus on using the presidency to line his pockets.

With half a billion dollars in new debt and his traditional lenders closed off to him, Donald Trump will have to find someone new to give him a huge amount of money in a very short time – and that is a major national security risk.

If you want others to know how dangerous Trump’s debt is from a national security perspective, forward this email to your friends and family.

Thank you!

Virginia Canter
Chief Ethics Counsel
CREW