President Donald Trump kicks off a three-country trip to the Middle East on Monday, visiting the Arab nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.
There are clear diplomatic reasons the president is going on the trip. Saudi Arabia has hosted the recent U.S.-Russia talks, while Qatar has been a key mediator in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations.
The United Arab Emirates signed on to the Abraham Accords at the end of the last Trump administration and is a key U.S. ally in the region.
At the same time, the Trump Organization is developing luxury properties in the trio of countries – with some just announced in recent weeks – putting government watchdog groups on high alert.
The Trump Organization has already opened a Trump International Golf Club in Dubai, UAE – with six additional projects in the three countries in the works.
Eric Trump, who serves as the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, the real estate development firm founded by the president’s father, paid a visit to the region in late April and inked new projects in the UAE and the company’s first project in Qatar.
On April 29 the Trump Organization announced that the UAE project would represent the ‘first and only Trump International Hotel & Tower’ in the Middle East and would be constructed in Dubai, the country’s glittering business hub.
The president will skip Dubai on this trip abroad, opting to meet UAE’s leaders in the nation’s capital, Abu Dhabi.
On April 30, the Trump Organization announced that it had struck a deal to build a golf resort north of Qatar’s capital of Doha – the second stop on Trump’s trip.
The development would include Trump-branded beachside villas and an 18-hole golf course.
Eric Trump was photographed walking around a large model showcasing the course.
In December 2024, weeks after Trump’s reelection, the Trump Organization announced that two Trump-branded properties would be built in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, including a Trump Tower and a golf community.
Riyadh is the first stop on the president’s trip.
There is also a Trump property planned for the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, which has since been unveiled as an ornate Trump Tower overlooking the Persian Gulf – which the president may rename the ‘Gulf of Arabia.’
At the time, Eric Trump also said that with business partner Dar Global, the Trump Organization would have a branded project in Abu Dhabi in the ‘next year or so.’
When Trump became president in 2017, he retained ownership of the Trump Organization but placed control of the business into the hands of Eric and Donald Trump Jr.
He broke presidential precedent, with previous commanders-in-chief divesting from their businesses or putting them in a blind trust.
That’s allowed watchdog groups to be critical and opponents to claim he appears to be mixing the business of the American people with his own interests.
‘Donald Trump’s trip to three countries where his namesake company has multiple projects presents serious corruption risks,’ Meghan Faulkner, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics’ communications director, told the Daily Mail.
‘Trump meeting with foreign officials who could make decisions affecting his businesses blurs the line between his official duties and his personal profit,’ she continued. ‘The American people should never have to wonder whether the president is making decisions with their best interests or his bottom line in mind, but Trump’s company’s foreign developments inevitably raise that question.’
In a report released Friday, CREW called the Doha golf course project one that risked ‘more serious conflicts’ due to one of the reported company’s involved being owned by the Qatari government.
‘Anyone who is upset about Hunter Biden should be up in arms over this. It’s far more egregious in its potential for corruption,’ a Democratic operative told the Daily Mail. ‘I think anyone who was speaking out about Hunter Biden, turning away at this is really the height of hypocrisy.’
On Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt bristled at the insinuation that the president was profiting from his role.
Leavitt was asked if Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric, as well as son-in-law Jared Kushner, would be traveling alongside the president to the Middle East.
Kushner, who served in Trump’s first White House, started a private equity firm after leaving the administration and reportedly received a $2 billion investment from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
‘I am not tracking family members joining us at this time, but of course the First Family is welcome to come,’ the press secretary answered. ‘I hope they would, they are great people, great to be around.’
In a follow-up question, Leavitt was asked if the president planned to meet with anyone involved in the family businesses or make site visits during the trip.
‘Not to my knowledge and let me just get to the premise of your question that both have you have raised,’ Leavitt responded. ‘I think it’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.’
‘He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service, not just once but twice,’ Leavitt continued. ‘The American public reelected him back to the White House because they trust he acts in the best interest of our country and putting the American public first.’
Leavitt said that Trump has ‘lost money for being president of the United States.’
The press secretary claimed that nobody has asked the same question of President Joe Biden, ‘a career politician who was clearly profiting off his office.’
‘That is not what President Trump does and this White House holds ourselves to the highest of ethical standards,’ Leavitt said.