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May 14, 2018

Breathtaking Venality: Trump Leaps to Help Chinese Company; Chinese Government Expected to Aid Trump’s Indonesian Hotel

May 14, 2018

Breathtaking Venality: Trump Leaps to Help Chinese Company; Chinese Government Expected to Aid Trump’s Indonesian Hotel

Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Breathtaking venality. It’s hard to capture in words how shocking and outrageous is the confluence of events around President Donald Trump’s ZTE tweet and the Chinese government’s expected loan to an Indonesian resort with Trump-branded hotels and a golf course.

Trump’s Twitter pledge to intervene to rescue a Chinese company from law enforcement measures was startling enough. The tweet saying that he will aid Chinese telecom company ZTE contradicts his tough-on-China posture and is especially surprising given the national security issues raised about the firm.

But the most disturbing element is Trump’s readiness to interject himself into a corporate law enforcement measure as part of a deal with a foreign government – a move that threatens the integrity of all corporate law enforcement against foreign-based companies, and really against all companies, period.

It is no longer easy to be surprised by this administration. But the revelation that the ZTE tweet comes just days after the Chinese government reportedly committed to funnel $500 million in loans to an Indonesian resort development that includes Trump-branded hotels and a Trump-branded golf course is absolutely jaw-dropping.

Here are some questions the president and his administration must answer:

How is this possibly not a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clause?
When did Trump become aware of the anticipated Chinese loan to the Indonesian resort project?
What are the terms of the expected loan?
Have Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the loan to the Indonesian resort project? Has it been discussed at any other governmental level?

There is no doubt that geopolitical considerations are informing Trump’s ZTE intervention. But is there anyone in America who believes that benefiting indirectly from a Chinese loan would NOT influence Trump’s decision to intercede?

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Tell Congress: Pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act

Generative Artificial Intelligence and Threats to Democracy

Protecting Elected Officials from Threats

Get Corporate Money Out of Politics

It’s Time to Cut the Bloated Pentagon Budget to Fund People, Not Military Contractors

Ensuring Public Money Does Not Go To Private Equity

Don’t Let Big Tech Write Our Digital Privacy Laws

Public Citizen Calls on Presidential Candidates, Parties to Pledge Not to Use Dangerous, Manipulative Deepfakes

Within Reach: Banker Pay Reform

Tell President Biden: Make Meds Affordable

Win Medicare for All

Report: Ranking of the Rate of State Medical Boards’ Serious Disciplinary Actions, 2019-2021

Petition to the FDA to Strengthen Safety Warning for Botox and Related Drugs and Remove Misleading Claims From Botox/Botox Cosmetic Labeling

President Biden: No Secrecy in Indo-Pacific Trade Talks

Climate Peace Clause Needed to Stop Trade Attacks on Climate Policies

Big Tech’s “Digital Trade” Power-Grab

Tell Toyota: Go all-in on EVs

Climate Roadmap for U.S. Financial Regulation

Toyota’s Troubling Electric Vehicle Track Record

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Breathtaking Venality: Trump Leaps to Help Chinese Company; Chinese Government Expected to Aid Trump’s Indonesian Hotel

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