The Crypto President: Part 2

[MUSIC] >> Big cornerers, how's everybody doing? [APPLAUSE] >> One month after President Trump won re-election, his son Eric grabbed a microphone and jogged up some stairs to the main stage of a major crypto conference in Abu Dhabi. >> Are you happy we have a new president in the United States? Please tell me you're happy. [APPLAUSE] >> This was the same United Arab Emirates crypto conference you heard about in the last episode. Eric was the keynote speaker. He wore a navy suit, crisp white shirt, no tie, tucked in above a silver belt buckle. His blonde hair slicked back. >> Obviously to all our friends in the UAE, this country is amazing. How many people in here from the UAE? Our family loves you. What did you make of Eric Trump's speech at the time? I think at the time it was something we really glossed over, but I think in light of the deal that we later learned about, it certainly sticks out a lot more. That's our colleague Rebecca Ballhouse. She's part of the Wall Street Journal reporting team that's been investigating the Trump family's crypto venture, world liberty financial. >> I've been focusing in the past year or so, mostly on the Trump family and the various ways that they've been profiting from the presidency. >> In less than two years, world liberty financial has earned the Trump family at least $1.2 billion in cash, and a lot of that has come through foreign-owned businesses. As we examined in yesterday's episode, one of the companies they worked with was the cryptocurrency exchange finance. The other involved the United Arab Emirates. Just weeks after Eric Trump's keynote speech in Abu Dhabi, world liberty financial went into business with a member of the UAE royal family, and the deal that they made was kept a secret. >> Until we revealed it in January of this year, it had never been disclosed publicly. We had spent a year at that point focusing on finance and world liberty and to learn that another connected but separate player had been, in fact, giving the largest injection of money into this company was just a shock to learn that there had been someone else behind the scenes this whole time. >> This secret deal was remarkable. A foreign government official getting deeply involved with an incoming US president's company. And what are the implications? >> Typically, presidents take pains to avoid any optics that might look like they're conducting diplomacy in a way that favors their own bottom line. A foreign government official taking a stake in the president's company right before he becomes president is the first and is not something we've seen in modern American politics. >> Since that deal took place, world liberty financial has become a major player in the crypto industry and a money-making machine for the Trump family. And the UAE finally got something it's wanted from the US for years. A lawyer for the White House said that quote, "The president has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities." And a spokeswoman for the Trump organization said the idea that politics has enriched the Trump family is quote, laughable. Over the course of two episodes, we're diving into the secret dealings that put world liberty financial on the map while personally enriching the Trump family. Welcome to the journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Saturday, April 25. This is episode two, the deal with the spy shake. The United Arab Emirates is a tiny but extremely wealthy nation on the Arabian peninsula. And for decades, the country has been gearing up for a post-oil future. To do that, it has its sights set on becoming a world leader in artificial intelligence. And the person behind that goal is the UAE president's brother, Sheikh Taknoon bin Zayed al-Nayan. Sheikh, by the way, in the UAE, is a title for male royals. So, Sheikh Taknoon is this really interesting figure. He oversees a more than $1.3 trillion empire that's backed by both his personal fortune and state money. And he owns companies that span from fish farms to AI to surveillance. And he is sometimes referred to as the spy shake. Taknoon gets that spy shake nickname because he's the country's national security advisor. But he's also just pretty mysterious. He doesn't really do interviews. And because of an eye condition, he's almost never seen without a pair of big dark sunglasses on. And he has grand ambitions for the future of the UAE. So, Sheikh Taknoon was given this mission by his brother to lead the countries push to become a world leader in AI. And what he needs to be able to do that is to secure access to US chips. As in artificial intelligence chips, the ones that power AI's quick processing. There are different kinds of AI chips manufactured around the world. But the ones from US companies are considered to be the best. And those are the ones that Taknoon wanted. Those chips would help him reach a goal he's been working towards for years, building one of the world's biggest AI data center clusters. A project so big that it would require the energy of two Hoover Danes. And he starts doing this under the Biden administration and starts lobbying to, you know, be allotted a certain number of these chips. But he really encounters hurdles because during the Biden administration, US officials are really skeptical about the UAE and in particular Taknoon's company is ties to China. And so in 2023, one of Taknoon's companies says that it's cutting its ties to China, that it's siding with the US, but the skepticism sort of remains. Back then, it wasn't just Democrats who were concerned. Some Republicans were worried too. Here's representative Mike Gallagher. Above all, when we look at this space, we need to understand that a world in which the Chinese Communist Party dominates critical technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, is a very dark and dystopian world. And it's one that we don't. With all the pushback, Biden decided to allow the UAE access to only a small number of AI chips. Far fewer than Taknoon had been pursuing. But Taknoon isn't used to being told no. After all, he controls more money than almost anyone else on the planet. When Trump is elected, Taknoon sees an opportunity to get the approval for more chips that he had wanted during the Biden administration. And so they really launched this full court press to win over the incoming Trump administration. After the US presidential election, Taknoon began finding ways to get close to the incoming Trump administration. And an opportunity presented itself in the Trump family's new crypto company, World Liberty Financial. So, four days before Trump's inauguration, Taknoon and some co-investors bought half of World Liberty, purchasing 49% of the Trump's company for half a billion dollars. The deal was signed January 16th, 2025, four days before the inauguration. It's signed by Eric Trump. Signing on the UAE side were two executives working for Taknoon. Half of the purchase price was paid upfront, immediately steering $187 million to Trump family entities. It was not disclosed. They never announced this partnership. This was a massive deal, and it was kept a secret. My colleague, say, I'm Kessler, called me on a weekend and said that he had reviewed the company documents that backed up that the shake had struck this deal with World Liberty. And I think my jaw just dropped. It was, you know, that was a big surprise. A World Liberty spokesman said that the deal was in the company's best interest, and that the president has had no involvement in either this deal or in the company since taking office. The spokesman also said the idea that, quote, "a privately held American company" should be held to some unique standard that no other similar company would be held is both ridiculous and un-American. A person familiar with Taknoon's investment said that it was not discussed with President Trump. What's kind of amazing is that at the time of the investment, World Liberty doesn't have any products, which, you know, if you're looking at a typical deal, you're going to say that's not a great deal for this investor. Right. So what was it that they were purchasing exactly? What did they get in return? I mean, I think that's the question. But certainly, if you're talking about trying to avoid [BLANK_AUDIO] optics of what would look like a deal where it begs the question of what one party is getting. This doesn't necessarily follow what previous presidents might have done. And that's not all. After that deal with world liberty was done, Tachnoon, now a major secret owner in the Trump's company, made another move. Shake Tunoon runs several other companies, including the company MGX. We told you about MGX in the last episode. It's that company that's backed by the UAE government. And it's also the company that used world liberties USD1 to make a $2 billion investment in the cryptocurrency exchange by-names. You may remember that transaction was a huge moment for world liberty. It ultimately allowed world liberty to pocket $80 million in income annually. And it legitimized the company in USD1 in the eyes of the crypto world. MGX is Tachnoon's company. But when that $2 billion transaction happened, it wasn't public that MGX and world liberties shared ownership. Tachnoon. So world liberty used it as an endorsement. Like hey, this major Emirati investor is using our stablecoin. And you should too. World Liberty presented this MGX investment using USD1 as an enormous vote of confidence in world liberty and in its stablecoin. And so the fact that Zach Whitcoff took the stage and was saying we thank MGX for their trust in us. We thank MGX and Binance for their trust in us. At the time that he knew that both MGX and world liberty were partly owned by the same person was just pretty shocking to me. What is the risk of going into business with a foreign government official in this way? The risk is that then every deal you do with that foreign government or every interaction you have with them is sort of called into question whether this is part of a business deal or whether you're doing this in the best interest of the US. Three months after the secret deal, Tachnoon goes to the White House. That's next. In March of 2025, three months after Tachnoon had secretly bought a stake in world liberty financial, President Trump invited him to the White House. Tachnoon arrives in Washington with his delegation and Trump hosts this big White House dinner for Tachnoon and his delegation and he invites the Vice President and several cabinet members including the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Treasury. We see Tachnoon in photos that the White House releases is sitting across from Trump. Tachnoon got the full red carpet treatment. Photos showed them together in the Oval Office sitting side by side. Trump with a huge grin on his face. And what I heard from national security officials or informer national security officials that I spoke to was that they were pretty stunned to see this level of access that Tachnoon is getting because under previous administrations what usually happens with a visiting foreign official is that they'll meet their US counterpart. So for Tachnoon, that would be the national security advisor. And Tachnoon did at one point meet with Biden, but he didn't get this kind of splashy White House dinner with the President and a half dozen cabinet members. And so people who kind of know how these things usually worked found that pretty remarkable. A big part of Tachnoon's visit was to get artificial intelligence chips. The same chips that the Biden administration had limited over concerns about the UAE's links to China. He's there in large part to push for a chip deal with the US. He meets with Trump in the Oval Office. He makes this $1.4 trillion investment pledge. He says the UAE will invest in the US over a decade, which Trump loves those kinds of announcements, loves to later tell those and he told people at the time that he was really excited about that. Then two months later in May, Trump made a visit in turn. He went to the UAE himself. He travels to Abu Dhabi. It's also kind of a total love fest between Trump and the UAE. The UAE organizes these fighter jet escorts for Air Force One. There was a parade of soldiers and dancers and people waving US and UAE flags. Greetings Trump inside the country's beautiful white and gold presidential palace. Trump tells the president of the country who's Tachnoon's brother that he's a magnificent man. A very strong man, a brilliant man, a man of vision. And he brings Tachnoon up in meetings. He says your wonderful brother has recently been to Washington to the president. And your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he looks over this 3D model of a massive AI data center project and Steve Whitkoff and Tachnoon are kind of looking on nearby. So it's sort of amazing convergence of many of the players who are all together in Abu Dhabi. I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better. You're a relation. And then on the final day of the trip, Trump made a big announcement. Yesterday the two countries also agreed to create a path for UAE to buy some of the world's most advanced AI semiconductors from American companies to very big contract. He says that the two countries have agreed to a very big contract for the UAE to buy around 500,000 of the US's most advanced AI chips per year. I mean, obviously this is what Tachnoon has been lobbying for. So this is a huge deal. When he gives you a handshake, when he makes a deal, that's the deal. National security concerns were not mentioned. And on his flight home, Trump boasted about his relationship with the UAE. It's been an amazing trip. We've raised millions of dollars of investment for our country. And we're dealing with really good people that have been abandoned and awaited by our country and by the United States. Then, in January of 2026, Tachnoon's secret stake in world liberty financial suddenly wasn't a secret anymore. Because Rebecca and the Wall Street Journal published the reporting, saying that four months before the US agreed to sell all those AI chips to the UAE, Tachnoon had bought almost half of Trump's world liberty financial. And the news spread quickly. Well, as there are times when I see a lead of a news story that is so startling to me, I have to read it out loud. There are brand new revelations that re-series questions about the depth of Donald Trump's second term grip. Sheek wanted AI chips. So he said, all right, I'm going to buy Trump's crypto. And I get the chips. It was literally a sheikdown and weird. After the news broke, more than a dozen Democrats condemned the Trump family's decision to accept an investment from a foreign official. Democrats, as you would expect, were pretty apoplectic about our reporting. We see Senator Chris Murphy goes to the Senate floor and condemns the deal. The White House has become a non-stop corruption machine. Congresswoman Gregory Meeks is saying that he wants a review of these conflicts of interest and foreign influence to be completed and shared with the Congress. And Meeks kind of points his finger at the shouts. Stop for the president. Well, stop being his flunky. Okay. And so it's kind of amazing to see there's been so much brewing between Democrats and the administration about this idea of, you know, profiting off of the presidency. We really see some of those tensions come to a head in that hearing. Rebecca says it's unlikely that the Democrats calls for investigation will go anywhere, while the party is in the minority. Republican lawmakers have largely refrained from commenting on the deal. A world Liberty spokesman said the deal didn't grant either party access to government decision making. He also called the Democrats comments baseless saying, quote, these lawmakers are harassing a private American business to score political points. Donald Trump Jr. was asked about taknews 49% stake in world Liberty during an interview with CNBC. Here's Don Jr. Hey, my father has nothing to do with be. It has nothing to do with AI chips and see we met in the Middle East the first time. But their argument is essentially that the sons are not in government and therefore can do what any other businessman can do. And that because their fathers are not involved, there's no conflict of interest. We've been dealing with the conflict of interest for years. I mean, they tried all this nonsense the first time around. Frankly, it's gotten old. There were the ones that put us in this position. So some Democratic lawmakers have called this conflict of interest. How do conflict of interest laws apply to the president? The president is exempt from conflict of interest rules in a way that other members of his administration are not. And we talked about this so much during Trump's first term, the idea that there were really not a lot of rules in place for or presidents and conflicts of interest and, you know, ethical obligations because there has always been an assumption that a president would be governed by the norms of this role and the desire to not have there be, you know, bad optics and that sort of thing. - Past presidents have typically placed their assets in a blind trust and avoided striking new business deals while in office. - And we saw Trump very much not abide by those norms in his first term, and I remember there being a lot of questions about like what rules will be imposed after he leaves office to address this going forward. And we really didn't see very much of anything be put in place. And so now he's back and he's, you know, just doing the same thing he was doing before and maybe sort of turbocharged this time around. - A White House spokesperson said that, quote, "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public." The spokesperson also said that President Trump's assets are in a trust managed by his children and that there are no conflicts of interest. Over the past several years, his children have pursued business deals like the ones they've struck through world liberty financial which has earned over a billion dollars for the Trump family since its launch. Rebecca, do these deals change the diplomatic playbook in any way? - Yeah, I spoke to a number of people about that while we were reporting out this story and what you've heard from really over the course of the past year from a number of lobbyists who have foreign governments as clients and foreign diplomats is that there is this view abroad that Trump is a transactional president and that, you know, I think some of these countries even appreciate that stance because they feel like they know how to play that game. But the feeling is very much that if you want something from the Trump administration, you have to be prepared to give something in return. There is certainly this perspective that it's gotta be a trade. This deal really only reinforces that dynamic. - Just a couple months ago, in February of this year, world liberty financial held a crypto conference of its own. The inaugural world liberty forum. Back where it all began, at Trump's winter white house, Mar-a-Lago. - World Liberty is throwing a conference in this ornate ballroom at Trump's resort in Palm Beach. There's a golden eagle that's sort of hanging over the conference stage. Guests are mingling by the pool where there's another golden eagle sitting in the pool. - Conference attendees included regulators, business leaders, and Trump administration officials. So it's just yet another example of this kind of intermingling of world liberty and the Trump administration. Another attendee was CZ, the pardoned founder of cryptocurrency exchange finance. This visit to Mar-a-Lago was his first time back on US soil since he was released from prison. - This event really sort of highlights how the Whitcoff sons and the Trump sons have leveraged their fathers' roles in the administration to kind of flaunt their access to power. This event only demonstrated that they plan to grow from here. So it's pretty clear that World Liberty has no plans to slow down anytime soon. - That's all for today, Saturday, April 25th. The journal is a co-production of Spotify and the Wall Street Journal. This episode is produced by Sophie Coddner and edited by Laura Morris. I'm Jessica Mendoza. Additional reporting in this episode by Angus Barich, Elliott Brown, and Patricia Cowsman. Fact checking by Mary Mathis. Sound design and mixing by Nathan Singapore. Music in this episode by Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord, and Nathan Singapore. Our theme music is by so wildly and remixed by Nathan Singapore. Special thanks to Beth Blackshire, Catherine Brewer, Pia Gaggari, Colin McNulty, Sarah Platt, and Tatiana Zameez. Thanks for listening. See you Monday.