7 key findings about Trump’s reinvented swamp
Has failed to end Washington’s insider culture of lobbying and favour-seeking
New York: Campaigning four years ago as a Washington outsider, Donald Trump electrified rallies with his vows to “drain the swamp.” But once he was in the White House, Trump didn’t merely fail to end Washington’s insider culture of lobbying and favour-seeking. He reinvented it, turning his own hotels and resorts into the Beltway’s new backrooms, where public and private business mix and special interests reign.
Federal tax-return data for Trump and his business empire obtained by The New York Times shows that even as he leveraged his image as a successful businessman to win the presidency, large swaths of his real estate holdings were under financial stress, having racked up losses over the preceding decades.
After the election, his family business discovered a lucrative new revenue stream: people who wanted something from the president.
An investigation by the Times has found more than 200 companies, special-interest groups and foreign governments that patronized Trump’s properties while reaping benefits from him and his administration. Nearly a quarter of those patrons have not been previously reported. Here are some key findings from the investigation.
President’s family business earned millions with interests before his administration
Just 60 customers with interests at stake before the administration brought the Trump Organization nearly $12 million during the first two years of Trump’s presidency, the Times found. Almost all saw their interests advanced, in some fashion, by the president or his government.
The president kept an eye on the Trump Organization from Washington
Eric Trump sometimes told his father about specific groups that had booked events at Mar-a-Lago, a former administration official said. And as Trump surveyed his business empire from the White House, he occasionally familiarized himself with details from club membership lists, according to two people with knowledge of the activity.
Getting access to Mr. Trump was easy: He has spent time at his hotels and resorts on roughly one day out of every four of his presidency
Victories were as weighty as a presidential directive and as ephemeral as a presidential tweet
Some customers framed their patronage in religious terms
Even politicians from small countries rubbed shoulders with the leader of the free world
Selfies and social media posts chronicled the favor-seeking
A White House spokesperson, Judd Deere, issued a brief statement saying that Trump had “turned over the day-to-day responsibilities of the very successful business he built” to his two adult sons. “The president has kept his promise every day to the American people to fight for them, drain the swamp and always put America first,” he added.
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