If you're wondering where the focus of your incoming pr*sident will be in 2017, look no further than his New Year's Eve praise for one of his business partners, a billionaire Dubai developer. Julie Hirshfield Davis writes:
In a video captured by a guest, Mr. Trump can be heard singling out “Hussain and the whole family” as “the most beautiful people,” apparently referring to Hussain Sajwani, the chairman of Damac Properties, which has built the Trump International Golf Club, Dubai; Trump Prvt luxury homes; and a Trump Spa, in addition to building a second golf course there that is scheduled to open next year.
The tape, obtained by CNN on Monday night, is the latest reminder of Mr. Trump’s vast array of global business relationships that could create conflicts of interest for his presidency, including the prospect that a commander in chief might make policy decisions guided by what is best for his own family’s brand and wealth.
Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, sidestepped questions about the issue on Monday night, saying only that the gathering where the president-elect had praised the Dubai billionaire had been a “social event.”
He's gonna be the effing pr*esident, Hope everything he says is political—he isn’t entitled to strictly "social events" anymore. Maybe you should get on that news conference Trump promised/canceled where he would detail all the distance he's going to put between him and his businesses.
Trump’s NYE socializing also included appearing on stage with a convicted felon known as “Joey No Socks ” (aka Joseph Cinque), who has ties to the Gambino crime family. “Joey No Socks,” whom Trump claimed to barely know while campaigning in 2016, cheered wildly next to Trump as he enumerated all those things he plans to do as pr*sident for the working class.
"The taxes are coming down, regulations are coming off, we're going to get rid of Obamacare," Trump can be heard saying as an exuberant Cinque stands next to him, pumping his fists into the air.
Nothing says ethics like sharing the stage with a convicted felon while revisiting your campaign promises. Here’s what Trump said about old “No Socks” back in May of 2016 after it was uncovered that Trump businesses had received more than a dozen hospitality awards from Cinque’s company, the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences:
Trump told The Associated Press on Friday that he doesn't know Cinque well and was unaware of Cinque's criminal conviction.
"If a guy's going to give you an award, you take it," Trump said. "You don't tend to look up his whole life story."
I don’t know him very well but I will invite him on stage with me to ring in the New Year, said no one ever, except for our next pr*sident.
Did we mention that both Eric Trump and Trump Jr. have served on the academy’s board of trustees, as has Trump himself?