While U.S. presidents have historically attempted to refrain from personal business dealings while assuming the highest office in the land, the Trump family’s business expansion could potentially reshape the presidency as we know it.
According to a Monday, April 13, report published by the Associated Press, President Donald Trump’s “family real estate business is undergoing the fastest overseas expansion since its founding.”
Per the report, these overseas ventures are being helmed by some of the president’s children, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., which includes an expansion “into cryptocurrencies with ventures that brought in billions of dollars.”
“The brothers have also joined or invested in a number of companies that aim to do business with the government their father runs,” the report, written by Bernard Condon, continued. “Last month, they struck a deal giving them stakes worth millions in an armed drone maker seeking contracts with the Pentagon and with Gulf states under attack by Iran.”
Us Weekly has reached out to the White House for comment regarding the Trump family’s business dealings.
The Trump family’s reported overseas business deals are one of many issues plaguing the president’s second term as he navigates a war with Iran, rising gas prices, the ongoing fallout from the Department of Justice’s handling of the so-called Epstein Files, the controversial renaming of the iconic Kennedy Center and the president’s current — and public — feud with Pope Leo XIV.
US President Donald flanked by his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Getty Images
Adding fuel to the controversy fire, Trump, 79, shared an AI image depicting himself as Jesus Christ on Sunday, April 12, sparking intense backlash among critics and fans alike.
“Why? Seriously, I cannot understand why he’d post this,” conservative and anti-trans commentator Riley Gaines — an avid Trump supporter — wrote via X. “Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?”
The former collegiate athlete added, “Either way, two things are true. 1) a little humility would serve him well 2) God shall not be mocked.”
The commander-in-chief later deleted the image, claiming he was not likening himself to the Christian Jesus but was instead depicting himself as a “doctor.”
“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with [the] Red Cross,” the president claimed while speaking to reporters outside the White House on Monday. “There’s a Red Cross worker there, which we support.”
Trump then blamed the media for the overwhelmingly negative reaction to the post.
“Only the fake news could come up with that one,” he continued. “I just heard about it, and I said, ‘How did they come up with that?’ It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better, and I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
