The $187 Million Deal Between Trump Family and the 'Spy Sheikh

$187 million. That's how much an Abu Dhabi royal family member invested in the Trump family's crypto company. That same spring, the US government reversed its policy and approved AI chip transfers to the investor's firm.

The Wall Street Journal's explosive investigation reveals the first documented case of a foreign government official purchasing a major stake in a Trump company after the 2024 election. The investor? Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of Abu Dhabi's royal family nicknamed the "Spy Sheikh."

Perfect Timing, Perfect Solution

Abu Dhabi's AI firm G42 desperately needed American semiconductors. But both the Biden administration and Congressional Republicans had blocked exports, fearing the chips would end up in China. Traditional lobbying and diplomatic pressure weren't working.

The solution was elegantly simple. Last year, the Spy Sheikh purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family's crypto venture. The $187 million flowed directly into Trump-family-controlled entities.

That spring, the Trump administration reversed longstanding US policy and approved the AI chip transfer. The timing was impeccable—too impeccable to be coincidental.

"What Makes Us Different?"

The Trump team's response to this revelation is perhaps more shocking than the deal itself. David Wachsman, a World Liberty spokesperson, told the Journal: "The idea that, when raising capital, 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."

But World Liberty isn't just any company. It was founded during the 2024 campaign's home stretch by Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Barron Trump, and "co-founder emeritus" Donald Trump himself.

Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in a blind trust to avoid tilting policy toward peanuts. Other peanut farmers didn't need blind trusts when Carter became president. That's the difference between a business owned by a sitting president and one that isn't.

The "Transparency" Defense

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche offered an even weaker defense on ABC's This Week: "President Trump has been completely transparent when his family travels for business reasons. They don't do so in secret. We don't learn about it when we find a laptop a few years later."

Except Abu Dhabi's investment in Trump's company was secret for over a year until the Journal uncovered it. Only after being caught red-handed is Trump pretending he freely disclosed it.

Blanche also claimed Biden "did exactly the same thing." But Joe Biden didn't run a private business while in office. Hunter Biden's sleazy overseas dealings—selling the mere appearance of political clout—pale compared to Trump actually delivering policy favors for his business partner.

The irony is rich: Trump repeatedly called Biden "Crooked Joe" and "the most corrupt president in American history." Now his administration says Trump is merely doing the same thing. By Trump's own account, that would make him tied for first place as America's most corrupt president.

"No Conflicts Exist"

The most revealing defense came from White House spokesperson Anna Kelly: "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public. There are no conflicts of interest."

This isn't just a lie about facts—it's a rejection of the very concept of conflicts of interest. Kelly is asserting that a conflict between the president's interests and the public's interests is theoretically impossible.

This belief underlies every Trump decision that has collapsed the space between the president and the state. He can apparently give himself and his friends carte blanche to commit crimes while deeming opponents criminals. He can turn government into propaganda, naming agencies after himself and making the Army parade on his birthday.

The New Normal?

What's most disturbing isn't that Trump took money from foreign actors while delivering favorable policies. It's that he's doing it openly and claiming it's perfectly normal.

Richard Nixon tried to cover up Watergate. Trump's approach is different: commit the crime in broad daylight, then insist it isn't a crime at all. The question isn't whether this constitutes corruption—it clearly does. The question is whether American institutions and voters will accept this new standard.