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8 Oct, 8 tweets, 3 min read
1/ On the topic of China, it's worth remembering that the president's business has accepted millions of dollars from a state-owned bank in China while Trump has served in office. Here's how it worked.
2/ Here's a debt prospectus, tied to Trump Tower, which shows that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China paid annual rent of roughly $1.9 million to Trump Tower Commercial LLC. You can see that the lease was set to expire on 10/31/2019 -- midway through Trump's first term. Image
3/ If there is any question about who owns Trump Tower Commercial LLC, see Trump's financial disclosure report, which shows that the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust owns 100%, through several shell companies. Here's the document: extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.n…
4/ And if there is any question about whose assets are inside that trust, see this document, which states that "the purpose of the trust is to hold assets for the exclusive benefit of Donald J. Trump." Image
5/ So, the recipient of that rent, Trump Tower Commercial LLC, is just a shell company for Donald Trump. Now, let's look at who is behind the entity paying the rent, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
6/ You can see here, in this ICBC annual report from 2017, that about 70% of the company is held by government entities in China. P. 75: v.icbc.com.cn/userfiles/Reso…

In the 2018 annual report, see p. 77: v.icbc.com.cn/userfiles/Reso…

In 2019, p. 90: v.icbc.com.cn/userfiles/Reso… Image
7/ That means that the government of China, through a state-owned bank, has quietly funneled millions of dollars into Donald Trump's business empire. This happened while Donald Trump was president -- and while he was dealing with China on issues of global importance.
8/ For more on this and other business deals between Trump and foreign governments, please see my new book, "White House Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business." penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623950/w…

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More from @DanAlexander21

Dan Alexander Profile picture
9 Oct
1/ The New York Times released their latest installment in their terrific Trump taxes series today. I've got some thoughts on this one as well, which I'll be outlining here over the next hour or so. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
2/ The story really includes two stories. First, there's one about cash flowing out of the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas. Second, there's another about a train project that Trump's partner in the hotel has talked to about the president. We'll start with the cash.
3/ On 9/15/2016, weeks before the election, Trump signed a document to secure a $30M loan against the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, which he owns in a 50-50 partnership with fellow billionaire Phil Ruffin. You can see the amount and the signature on these documents. ImageImage
Read 15 tweets
Dan Alexander Profile picture
9 Oct
1/ In a Trump Tower press conference, held nine days before he took office, Donald Trump described his plan to separate his business from his presidency. Over the last few years, the key pillars of that plan have crumbled. Let’s go through them one-by-one. c-span.org/video/?421482-…
2/ Promise 1 of Trump’s ethics plan: “No new foreign deals will be made whatsoever during the duration of President Trump’s presidency,” his attorney said. Trump did at least one new foreign deal anyway.

(See the promise at 31:57 of the video below.)
c-span.org/video/?421482-…
3/ We know that the president did new a new foreign deal in office because he himself admitted it—on a financial disclosure report filed with federal ethics officials. You can see here that he sold $3.2M of land in the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29, 2018. extapps2.oge.gov/201/Presiden.n… Image
Read 10 tweets
Dan Alexander Profile picture
6 Oct
(1/9) When Donald Trump became the president of the United States, his brand got bigger, but it didn’t get better. Just take a look at what happened to Trump National Doral, his golf resort in Miami. forbes.com/sites/danalexa…
(2/9) Here’s a video of the Trump Organization’s tax specialist getting sworn in at a local proceeding where she is going to explain the situation in December 2017, 11 months into Trump’s presidency.
(3/9) “I met with the director of finance, as well as the director of development for all of the Trump Organization,” Trump’s tax representative explains here. “And they mentioned that throughout 2016, because of the political climate, there have been severe ramifications.”
Read 9 tweets
Dan Alexander Profile picture
5 Oct
(1/12) From the very start of his presidency, Donald Trump has found small ways to convert power into profit. To better understand this, let’s take a look at the numbers inside the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
(2/12) We’ll start with the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, the group that raised money to celebrate the inaugural festivities. It was headed up by Tom Barrack, one of Trump’s old buddies. A bunch of billionaires poured in money. forbes.com/sites/danalexa…
(3/12) “They all want to kiss the rear of whoever wins the election,” explained @RWPUSA, chief ethics lawyer in the W. Bush administration. One danger is it can start to look like a slush fund. “It’s a potential problem that every decent ethics lawyer knows is a huge issue.”
Read 12 tweets
Dan Alexander Profile picture
27 Sep
1/ The New York Times #TrumpTaxReturns story is terrific. I had about a million thoughts as I was reading though. I'll be annotating those here, in this thread, for the next few hours. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
2/ Story starts with this bombshell, that Trump paid just $750 in taxes in 2016 and another $750 in 2017. Shocking numbers for someone who we estimate is worth $2.5B. (Yes, you can still be really rich and disclose a tiny income or even huge losses. More on his net worth later.) Image
3/ Then we get to this part about the current state of his business, which highlights the amount of debt that Trump has coming due. We actually already know a lot about his debt -- far more than most people who follow the news might think. Let's pause here and dig into it. Image
Read 43 tweets
Dan Alexander Profile picture
21 Sep
(1/6) Companies are paying the president, while the president holds power over those companies. To understand the scale of the potential conflicts, let’s dig into the details. vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/h…
(2/6) At least 35 Trump tenants lobbied the federal government on policy issues while their landlord sat in the White House. Here they are. Image
(3/6) At least 30 Trump tenants collected over $8 billion in federal government contracts from 2018 to 2019 alone, while paying rent to the president’s companies. Here they are. Image
Read 6 tweets

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