1/ One of the key promises that Donald Trump’s team made before he took office was that an outside ethics advisor was going to review all of his new business deals while in office. That didn’t happen. vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/h…
2/ In fact, no one from the Trump team reviewed leases in properties where the president held an interest of less than 50%, as a lawyer inside the Trump Organization explained to me.
3/ The problem with this arrangement is that about half of all the rent flowing into Trump’s coffers comes from two buildings in which he holds minority stakes, 1290 Avenue of the Americas in NYC and 555 California St in SF.
4/ In other words, about half of the rent flowing into Trump's empire is not subject to any internal ethics review. It isn’t subject to an external one either, because the president won’t release a list of his tenants.
5/ No wonder that some recent rental agreements, like one with the Qatar Investment Authority for this empty space inside 555 California St, managed to slip under the radar for so long. Lots of other tenant relationships have remained hidden as well.
6/ In my new book, White House Inc., I identified over 150 different Trump tenants, accounting for an estimated $177M in annual rent. It’s the most complete list of the president’s tenants anywhere. The book comes out Tuesday. You can pre-order here: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623950/w…
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.