- 5/14/2025
During remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) spoke about the business deals that President Trump and his family members have made with foreign governments.
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00:00Today I want to talk about the art of the deal, because Donald Trump has been busy making deals.
00:06Not his promised trade deals. Those are heavy on promises, but very light on actual deals.
00:14Not any deals in Congress to lower costs for the American people that could make it easier to afford a home or to buy groceries.
00:22In fact, with fewer cargo ships arriving at our ports and our closest allies and neighbors boycotting American goods,
00:31the president has done nothing but make your life more difficult.
00:35Medicaid is under attack. Social Security offices are closing by the dozens.
00:42Food assistance, rental assistance, energy assistance, all on a chopping block.
00:47There is no end to the destruction. The first 114 days of this administration have been one bad deal after another for American families.
01:01But if your last name is Trump, these 114 days have been just about the greatest deal of all time.
01:10New airplanes from your friends in the Gulf, new hotel deals, new golf courses, new meme coins, new towers, new income is flowing in to the Trump family.
01:22You name it, Donald Trump and his family are cashing in.
01:27So today, I want to highlight just a few of those deals for the Trump family.
01:34How he's lining his own pockets and fleecing the rest of us in the process.
01:39How his family is getting even richer while the rest of us are treated like suckers.
01:46Today, I want to talk about the 10 best deals for Donald Trump and the worst deals for the American people.
01:57How the graph is on full display and how you, the American people, are being left holding the bag.
02:05You don't have to look far from the White House to find some of the most flagrant examples.
02:12So entering in at number 10 of the top 10 deals for Donald Trump and the worst deals for the American people,
02:22we only need to look at the South Lawn.
02:26We all saw this happen on the White House grounds.
02:28Donald Trump and Elon Musk turning the place into a Tesla showroom.
02:36But what you might have missed is what happened before and after this photo was taken.
02:43Just before Trump turned the White House grounds into a used car lot,
02:48Tesla stock had been in an historic and disastrous slump.
02:53With their market value cut in half since December, Musk needed a jolt to his ailing company.
03:02And he got it.
03:03When the president was asked whether his symbolic purchase of a Tesla at the White House might help the company's stock,
03:11Trump said, I hope it does.
03:14But that wasn't all.
03:16Because the best part of the deal for Donald Trump took place after the Teslas had been driven away and the cameras had been packed up.
03:26Because not long after the special live stream on X or Twitter had ended, something even more important happened.
03:36With Tesla shares on the rebound, Elon Musk promised to pump $100 million into Donald Trump's political operation.
03:47That's right.
03:48Donald Trump received one of the largest political contributions in American history,
03:55all for the price of one measly Tesla Model S and the use of the White House as a sales room.
04:03A damn good deal for Donald Trump, if you ask me.
04:10For you, the American taxpayer, nothing at all.
04:15Zero, zilch, nada.
04:17All you got was being taken for a ride.
04:21For number nine of the best deals for Donald Trump, we have to zoom down to Mar-a-Lago,
04:26where you can generally find the president golfing on your dime and lining his pockets in the process.
04:32We saw this during the first Trump administration, but at that time, he was still finishing the front nine.
04:40During his first term, Donald Trump made an astounding 473 trips to his own golf courses while in office.
04:49But this term, he seems determined to go for the club record.
04:53In just his first 100 days, Donald Trump spent over a quarter of those days while in office, golfing.
05:07Wouldn't you like a job like that, where you get to play golf every four days?
05:13Pretty sweet.
05:16Through market collapses, Donald Trump was out on the golf course.
05:20Through national crises, Donald Trump was out on the golf course, enjoying the golden age in his golden golf cart,
05:27playing the back nine while you struggled to pay your rent or your mortgage.
05:31Which is bad in and of itself, that the president of the United States is spending so much time,
05:38when there's so many challenges facing American families, out on the golf course.
05:42But that's not even the worst of it.
05:45Because guess who is paying for all that golf?
05:49You are.
05:51You are, the American people, the taxpayer.
05:53That's right, all those drives and those chip shots, all those slices and those hooks,
06:00all the missed putts, you're paying for every hole.
06:06This term, reports suggest he's spent well over $30 million in taxpayer funds on these golfing trips.
06:16That's your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen.
06:19And it's not just the use of these taxpayer funds that's a travesty.
06:24It's that these taxpayer dollars go to benefit him directly.
06:31His golf courses, his hotels charge the U.S. government to pay for the Secret Service agents
06:38and other White House staff to play golf with him or to accompany him on his rounds.
06:44To rent golf carts, to have meals.
06:47In other words, your tax dollars are going to the Trump hotel and golf course organizations directly.
06:56And if you're interested and wealthy enough Mar-a-Lago memberships will cost you a cool million or more.
07:03Where you can hobnob with the president and his family and see if you,
07:07if you too can get any special deals from the federal government.
07:11But don't spend all your money at the Trump golf courses because there is a movie that you're going to want to save some money to rent.
07:20Because, well, someone has got to watch it.
07:22Coming in at number eight of the top ten deals for the Trump family is Melania's new documentary.
07:30On January 6th of this year, Amazon announced a new documentary coming soon.
07:35An unprecedented, quote, unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at First Lady Melania Trump, unquote.
07:42And get this, Amazon will be paying out $40 million to the Trump family to license the documentary.
07:50Okay, so let me just say that again.
07:53Again, Amazon is giving $40 million in cash to his family, the Trump family, to license this documentary.
08:04Direct cash into the pockets of the Trump family.
08:07But apparently they're still looking for more.
08:11Melania's agent has been trying to sell sponsorships for the film,
08:15starting at $10 million to prominent CEOs and billionaires who were at the inauguration.
08:21In return, for your sponsorship of this Melania documentary,
08:27buyers would get thanked at the end of the credits and be invited to the premiere.
08:33Reportedly, Trump interests are also pitching Hollywood for a show about Don Jr.'s time outdoors, a hunting show.
08:39Seriously, and who wouldn't want to see it?
08:41Might be a little bit like watching Dick Cheney go hunting again.
08:44But if you're looking for a way to get in good with the Trump family that doesn't involve golf or TV shows
08:51or buying a Tesla at the White House, they're offering another great solution.
08:57At number seven of the top ten deals for the Trump family during this presidency,
09:02we have the Trump family's new private club.
09:05As part of their crusade to refill the swamp, the Trump family is opening a private club right here in Washington, D.C.
09:14It will be called the Executive Branch.
09:17I wish I was kidding.
09:20Much like the Trump Hotel in the first administration,
09:23it will serve as a gathering place for Trump world
09:26and a way to directly pay homage to the president
09:29in the form of champagne and caviar and checks to his business endeavors
09:34and those of his kids.
09:37For a cool $500,000 membership fee,
09:42you too can schmooze with people wheeling and dealing within the administration.
09:47There is perhaps no more appropriate image of the Trump presidency than this.
09:51The Executive Branch Club is an invite-only club
09:57for insiders, for investors, and billionaires
10:00to directly line the pockets of the first family,
10:03sending a message as clear as day to anyone who wants to do business in the United States.
10:09If you want to be with Trump, you've got to pay the covered charge.
10:14And now entering in at number six of the top ten deals for Donald Trump
10:18of his presidency, a brand-new Trump hotel in Dubai.
10:25Right now, literally at this moment,
10:28Donald Trump is in the United Arab Emirates.
10:31You can imagine the scene,
10:33standing in some gold-plated hotel room looking out over Abu Dhabi,
10:37and just beyond the line of sight in the distance is the skyline of Dubai.
10:42A skyline that, as of a few weeks ago,
10:45is likely getting a new feature cutting through the night sky.
10:50The Trump International Hotel and Tower Dubai,
10:54an 80-floor behemoth.
10:57And within it, luxury residences and exorbitantly expensive hotel rooms,
11:05apartments that started to cool $2 million,
11:07and penthouses that'll cost tens of millions of dollars.
11:12Even better, if you can't make the Trump new club here in D.C.,
11:16there's going to be an exclusive members-only club right there in Dubai.
11:21In their words, quote,
11:23set to redefine the meaning of exclusive luxury.
11:28All benefiting, that's right, Donald Trump and his family.
11:33Now, their ventures in the Middle East don't start or end in Dubai,
11:38because entering in at number five of the best deals for Trump
11:42and the Trump family of his presidency,
11:44they're cashing in, this time in Qatar.
11:49Coming soon to Doha, the Trump administration, golf course.
11:53This is going to be an 18-hole course,
11:56a clubhouse, and high-end villas with beach access.
11:59A $5.5 billion deal, billion with a B,
12:07set to net the Trump family hundreds of millions of dollars.
12:12A deal that's reportedly in partnership with Qatari DR,
12:16a company owned by, in this case, the Qatari government itself.
12:22Now, I'm sure Qatar's multi-billion dollar investment
12:27in the personal finances of the Trump family
12:30is entirely coincidental.
12:34I'm sure it is not intended to influence U.S. policy
12:38towards the country, which also hosts Al Jazeera in any way.
12:42I know it's easy in all the Trump corruption and schemes
12:47to miss the forest for the trees,
12:49but let's not fail to appreciate just how unprecedented this is,
12:54just how corrupt and dangerous this is.
12:58The president's namesake company
13:01is directly in business with a foreign government,
13:06and the money is going into his pocket,
13:10not the treasury, not your pocket as the taxpayer.
13:14It's going into Donald Trump and his family's pocket, his.
13:21But that's not the only Gulf nation in business
13:24with the president and his family, not by a long stretch.
13:28There is also Saudi Arabia,
13:29because entering in at number four
13:31is the newly announced Trump Tower in Jeddah
13:34and their brand new, two brand new projects in Riyadh.
13:45These will net the Trump family millions as well,
13:48and this isn't the first time
13:49the Trump family has cashed in with the Saudis.
13:53Months after Trump left office the first time,
13:55Jared Kushner's investment firm
13:57received a $2 billion investment
14:01from none other than the Saudi crown prince,
14:04a deal that was so shady,
14:06even the panel that screens investments
14:08for the Saudi wealth fund recommended against it.
14:13Imagine that.
14:14But they were overruled by higher-ups
14:16in the Saudi royal family,
14:17and the money went straight
14:18into the Trump family's enterprise.
14:22$2 billion.
14:24But it's not just Donald Trump and his family
14:27that are cashing in at your expense.
14:29The world's richest man is using his role, too,
14:34as a special government employee to cash in as well,
14:37because even when you're the world's richest man,
14:42as Elon Musk is,
14:45enough is never enough.
14:49Entering at number three
14:50are Elon Musk's shady Starlink deals.
14:54Elon Musk,
14:56when he's not tweeting
14:58or firing essential government workers,
15:00is turning his company Starlink
15:03into a global superpower.
15:05How?
15:06By using the sway of his position
15:08and his proximity to Trump
15:10to negotiate a whole raft of deals
15:12with foreign nations
15:13to purchase his Starlink satellite systems.
15:18Just look at what happened
15:19with the nation of Lysetho,
15:22located in South Africa.
15:25Donald Trump slapped crippling tariffs
15:27on the country.
15:28In hopes of a trade deal,
15:30they came to the table,
15:32and that meant coming to Elon Musk's table.
15:35To understand this best,
15:36I want to read verbatim
15:37from a leaked internal State Department memo.
15:41Quote,
15:41As the government of Lysetho
15:43negotiates a trade deal
15:44with the United States,
15:46it hopes that licensing Starlink
15:50demonstrates goodwill
15:52and the intent to welcome U.S. business.
15:55As the government of Lysetho
15:57negotiates a trade deal with the U.S.,
15:59it hopes that licensing Starlink
16:01demonstrates goodwill
16:03and intent to welcome U.S. businesses.
16:07This is from the State Department's own cable
16:11in black and white.
16:12It's just pay-to-play
16:14to get out from under the tariffs
16:16that Trump imposed on Lysetho.
16:19That country is going to buy
16:20Elon Musk's satellite system.
16:23Wow.
16:25Pay off Trump's machine,
16:26and maybe you'll get a trade deal.
16:28And, of course,
16:30it isn't just the poor country of Lysetho.
16:33In February,
16:34Elon Musk met with Indian Prime Minister
16:36Narendra Modi in Blair House,
16:39a government building
16:40just steps from the White House.
16:42Their meeting was private,
16:44but the results were very public.
16:46Shortly after the meeting,
16:48India announced
16:48two Starlink distribution deals.
16:52Millions into Musk's pockets negotiated,
16:55steps away from the White House.
16:57Since then,
17:00since the imposition of these tariffs,
17:02since the need of other countries
17:03to come in and to negotiate,
17:05tariffs away with the Trump administration,
17:08Elon Musk has reached deals with Somalia,
17:11the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
17:14Bangladesh,
17:15Pakistan,
17:16and Vietnam.
17:17And that's just what we know about so far.
17:21But I promise you,
17:23this will not be the end of it.
17:25It's among the most obvious,
17:27egregious,
17:28and dangerous acts of corruption
17:29in American history.
17:32Want out from under a tariff?
17:34Make a deal with Elon Musk
17:36and Starlink.
17:37And they're barely trying to hide it.
17:41Which brings us to number two
17:42of the top ten deals
17:44for Donald Trump as president
17:46and the top ten days,
17:49the top ten ways
17:50that the American people
17:51are ending up holding the back.
17:54Because Qatar isn't just investing
17:57in a new Trump Tower at home.
18:01The Qatari government
18:02is also gifting the president
18:05a new Air Force One.
18:08An aircraft so opulent
18:12that they're calling it
18:14a sky palace,
18:15a palace in the sky.
18:17A $400 million gift
18:19for Donald Trump
18:19that taxpayers
18:20will have to pay
18:22to debug.
18:23You can imagine
18:24all the national security implications
18:26of getting
18:27an airplane
18:29with all of its electronics
18:31and all of the
18:32venues.
18:34You could hide
18:34eavesdropping equipment.
18:35You could imagine
18:36what will be necessary
18:37to debug
18:38an aircraft like that.
18:40It will need
18:41to be retrofit
18:42and upgraded
18:43to meet the standards
18:44of an Air Force One.
18:45It will cost
18:47taxpayers a fortune.
18:50And their plan,
18:53the Qatari's plan,
18:54is to gift the plane
18:55to the Trump
18:57presidential library
18:58before Donald Trump's
19:00term ends.
19:01That way,
19:03the president
19:03can keep using it
19:05as he pleases.
19:07That way,
19:07Donald Trump,
19:08in addition to his own
19:09private plane,
19:09in addition to Air Force One,
19:11which he is very upset with
19:13because it's a few decades old
19:15and, you know,
19:17it just doesn't have
19:18the amenities
19:18that Donald Trump
19:20has come to expect,
19:22he gets to keep
19:23this palace in the sky.
19:26While American airports
19:27are in crisis,
19:29air traffic controllers,
19:30shortages,
19:31radar blackouts,
19:32massive delays,
19:33and surging prices,
19:35for you,
19:35the passenger,
19:37this is what the president
19:38of the United States
19:39is focused on.
19:40Not bringing down
19:41airfare for you,
19:43not dealing with those
19:44luggage fees
19:45and all the hidden costs
19:46when you buy airplane tickets.
19:48No, that's not what
19:49the president of the United States
19:50cares about.
19:52This is what he cares about.
19:53He cares about getting
19:54a $400 million gift
19:56from the gutteries,
19:57which he calls
19:58a nice gesture.
20:00giving a whole new
20:03meaning to the term
20:04nice gesture.
20:06I kind of associate
20:07nice gesture
20:07with maybe someone
20:08picking up the tab
20:09at Chipotle
20:10or maybe giving me
20:13a ride
20:13instead of having
20:14to take an Uber
20:14somewhere.
20:16But for Donald Trump,
20:17a nice gesture
20:17is a $400 million
20:18palace in the sky
20:21that he gets to keep
20:23or make use of
20:24when he's no longer
20:25president.
20:26Never mind that
20:27the gift violates
20:28the Constitution's
20:29prohibition on a president
20:31receiving gifts
20:32or emoluments.
20:34Never mind that
20:35it violates the Constitution.
20:36That seems to be
20:37of little concern
20:38to the president.
20:40But the fact is
20:41the gutteries
20:42are not stupid.
20:45They're going to want
20:46something for that
20:47$400 million plane.
20:51There's no such thing
20:52as a free lunch.
20:53There's no such thing
20:53as a free $400 million plane.
20:57And that's something
20:58that the gutteries
20:59are going to want
20:59is favorable U.S. policies
21:02towards Qatar
21:03in the Middle East.
21:06If they didn't want
21:07something for that plane,
21:08maybe they would have
21:08given it to you
21:09or somebody else
21:11not named Trump.
21:15This is, in fact,
21:16why we have a clause
21:17in the Constitution
21:18that prohibits gifts
21:19like this
21:19because we want to know
21:21that the President
21:21of the United States
21:22is acting on our behalf,
21:24on our country's behalf,
21:25on our national security
21:26behalf,
21:27our interests,
21:28not some foreign interest
21:30that gave them
21:31a $400 million gift.
21:33And if you really believe
21:35that Trump won't return
21:36the favor
21:36when the time comes,
21:38when the gutteries
21:39want something
21:40that may or may not be
21:41in our national interest,
21:43if you really believe
21:44that Trump won't return
21:45the favor
21:46when that time comes
21:47and I've got
21:48a 747 palace in the sky
21:50that I'd like to sell you.
21:53But that's not even
21:55the most corrupt deal
21:56of the 114-day-old
21:58Trump presidency
21:59because coming in
22:00at number one
22:02of the top 10 best deals
22:05for Donald Trump
22:06and the worst deals
22:07for you, the taxpayer,
22:08is Donald Trump's
22:09crypto scheme.
22:11You've heard about
22:12the meme coin by now.
22:13This is, I think,
22:14the logo of the meme coin.
22:17The president's
22:18most brazen
22:19cashing in.
22:21A corrupt effort
22:22that's already made him
22:23and his family
22:24billions of dollars
22:25between its soaring values
22:27and the trading fees.
22:30Now, this meme coin
22:31has gone up and down
22:32in value,
22:33but the thing is,
22:34every time it gets traded,
22:35every time it's bought
22:36or sold,
22:37this guy gets a cut.
22:39He gets the fees
22:40estimated already
22:42at the value
22:43of hundreds of millions
22:44of dollars.
22:45It's like posting
22:46his Venmo account
22:47online,
22:48inviting personal
22:49monetary tributes
22:51from foreign powers,
22:53foreign investors,
22:54or anyone else
22:55who's willing to pay up.
22:57You've heard about
22:58the private dinner
22:59that they're offering
23:00associated with
23:01this meme coin.
23:02The top 220
23:03meme coin owners,
23:05many of whom
23:06are foreign investors,
23:07invited to a private dinner
23:08with the president
23:09of the United States.
23:11Businesses are buying
23:12and jockeying
23:13to be one of the favored few
23:15who also get
23:16a private audience
23:17with him
23:17if they're willing
23:18to buy millions
23:19of meme coins,
23:21not to mention
23:22a personal tour
23:22of the White House.
23:25But beyond the meme coins
23:27and the dinner parties,
23:28there's something else
23:30also brewing
23:31behind the scenes.
23:32As I speak,
23:33Eric Trump
23:35and Don Jr.
23:35are getting
23:36into the action,
23:38jetting around the world,
23:38building their own
23:39financial empire
23:40in the crypto
23:41business space.
23:42In Dubai,
23:43the Trump family's
23:44world liberty
23:46financial firm
23:47announced the joint
23:48venture capital firm
23:49backed by the government
23:51of Abu Dhabi
23:52that would invest
23:53$2 billion
23:54using Trump
23:56digital currency.
23:59Now,
23:59I know it's hard
24:00to keep all these
24:01billions apart.
24:03You've got
24:04the $2 billion
24:05investment
24:06in Jared Kushner
24:07by the Saudis.
24:08You've got
24:08$5.5 billion
24:11investment
24:11by other Gulf nations
24:13in Trump properties.
24:15You've got
24:15$2 billion here,
24:16$5.5 billion there,
24:18another $2 billion here,
24:19and pretty soon,
24:19you're talking about
24:20serious money
24:21for the Trump family.
24:23This deal alone
24:24will generate
24:26hundreds of millions
24:26of dollars in revenue
24:27and fees
24:29for the Trump family.
24:31So that's the art
24:32of the deal
24:32with this president.
24:35Trump gets rich,
24:37you get screwed.
24:38over and over
24:40and over again.
24:41It's obvious
24:42to anyone who looks,
24:44but it bears repeating.
24:48He does not care
24:49about you.
24:51He does not care
24:52about making
24:52your life better.
24:54He does not care
24:55that prices are soaring
24:56or that homeownership
24:58seems impossible.
25:00He doesn't care
25:01if you have to choose
25:02between rent or groceries,
25:04let alone whether
25:04you'll be able
25:05to take that family
25:07on a vacation
25:08that you've dreamed of.
25:10He doesn't care
25:11if the health care
25:12you rely on
25:13gets cut
25:13or your local
25:15social security office
25:16closes down.
25:17He doesn't care.
25:18If it helps pay
25:19for his billionaire tax cuts,
25:21it's all the same
25:22to him.
25:24He does not care.
25:28Trump cares about
25:30one thing and one thing
25:31only.
25:32The same thing
25:33he cared about
25:34when he wrote
25:35this book
25:36and the same thing
25:39he's focused on
25:40every day
25:42of this presidency.
25:43He deals
25:44to make himself
25:45richer,
25:46to make his family
25:48richer,
25:49to make his billionaire
25:51friends richer,
25:52and my colleagues.
25:55He is succeeding.
25:57He is succeeding
25:59beyond his wildest
26:00imagination.
26:03He will likely
26:04make more money
26:05in the next four years
26:06than he did
26:07in his entire life
26:08up to that point.
26:10In fact,
26:11he probably
26:13already has.
26:16With new
26:17gold-plated
26:17skyscrapers
26:18around the world
26:19and a suite
26:19of new golf courses
26:20to match,
26:22a fancy new plane,
26:24a speedy new Tesla
26:25with the richest man
26:26in the world
26:27in the passenger seat,
26:29a crypto empire
26:30and projects
26:31around the world
26:31that will keep
26:32the gravy train
26:33going for generations.
26:36And no matter
26:37what wreckage
26:38he leaves behind here,
26:40he knows
26:41that he can head off
26:42to one of those
26:42gold-plated skyscrapers,
26:45look down
26:45on the rest of us,
26:47and chuckle
26:48at his good fortune.
26:49The art of the deal
26:51indeed.
26:53For Donald Trump,
26:55not for you.
26:58I yield back.