John,

When Afghanistan's Taliban government reacted to Donald Trump's election victory saying it hoped for a "new chapter" in relations with the United States, on some level, that was business as usual during presidential transitions.

But here’s where things get unprecedented—thanks to Trump’s sprawling business conflicts:

The government of Afghanistan owes Trump World Tower over $200,000.

A property lien filed with the New York City Department of Finance shows a debt of $219,914.75 in unpaid charges for a unit in the Trump World Tower since March of 2022—and that’s on top of additional missed payments at the end of 2021.

When foreign countries owe the president’s businesses significant sums—or when the president’s businesses owe millions to state-connected businesses (as Trump’s apparently did in South Korea), that creates thorny ethics and corruption issues.

These Afghanistan and South Korea stories are not one off occurrences. In fact, we know that Trump likely benefited from $13.6 million in payments from foreign governments during his presidency, including from China, the United Kingdom, Qatar, India and Kuwait.

Some of Trump’s foreign entanglements not only violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses, but also present national security threats.

John, all of this could be avoided if Trump divested from his businesses. During Trump’s first presidency, CREW tracked *thousands* of conflicts of interest stemming from his refusal to divest from his businesses.

Each of those conflicts are opportunities for the president to put his own personal business interests ahead of what’s best for the American people.

Thanks,

Robert Maguire
Vice President of Research
CREW