ByDan Alexander,
Forbes Staff.
“F
or the record,” Donald Trump tweeted on Oct. 16, 2018, one day after parroting a claim from Saudi Arabia’s king that he did not know what happened to murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, “I have no financial interests in Saudi Arabia (or Russia, for that matter). Any suggestion that I have is just more FAKE NEWS (of which there is plenty)!”
Trump may not have had any interests in Saudi Arabia at the time, but he had done sporadic business with Saudi Arabia, offloading the Plaza Hotel to a Saudi prince in 1995 and selling a set of condos to the Saudi government in 2001. Trump’s ties to the Arab nation grew stronger in the wake of the Khashoggi murder, however, especially after his first term in office ended. Since then, the president and his family struck at least nine deals with Saudi investors, pushing millions into the president’s golf properties, tens of millions into his licensing business and billions into private-equity funds, according to Forbes calculations. In 2024 alone, Trump and his extended family collected an estimated $50 million from deals connected to Saudi Arabia.
