The New York Times reports:

President-elect Donald J. Trump was at the lectern talking through the approaching inauguration of his second term. But across the ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., was a display of the extraordinary way that his family business interests are now fully mixed with his plans for governance of the United States.

Mr. Trump opened the unusual news conference on Tuesday by introducing Hussain Sajwani, the founder and chairman of DAMAC Properties, a Dubai-based real estate firm that partnered with the Trump family a decade ago to build the first Trump-branded golf course in the Middle East.

Now, Mr. Trump said, DAMAC is planning to invest billions of dollars in the United States to build data centers, with the help of Mr. Trump and the federal government, even while DAMAC continues its role as a Trump business partner.

There too in the room at Mar-a-Lago was Steve Witkoff, who is in business with a new crypto company called World Liberty Financial that both Mr. Trump and his sons helped start. Mr. Witkoff, while still working with the crypto company, is already serving as Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Mr. Witkoff provided an update from the stage on efforts to release Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Mr. Trump pointed out that one of his sons, Eric Trump, who has been pushing new Trump tower deals in the Middle East, was in the back of the ballroom, as well, on the same day that LIV Golf, the Saudi-financed golf league, disclosed that it intends to host another tournament this year at the Trump National Doral resort near Miami. This means that money tied to the Saudi government will continue to flow to the Trump family, even when Mr. Trump is back in the White House, as LIV Golf is owned by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.

Also on Tuesday, Trump Organization’s other major Middle East business partner, Dar Al Arkan, disclosed that it planned to start building projects in the United States for the first time, according to a report by Reuters. Dar Al Arkan did not respond to a request for comment.

It all comes as Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, recently disclosed that he has raised an additional $1.5 billion from Middle East investors for his private equity company. The firm he started after he left his position in the White House in 2020 now has more than $4.5 billion, mostly from oil-rich sovereign wealth funds.

“This will be the golden age of America — this is the golden age of America,” Mr. Trump said, as he was wrapping up his more than hourlong news conference, not referring to his own family business operations, but his confidence on the future path of the nation. “We’re going to have a great country again.”

The scale of overlap between Mr. Trump’s family members and their business interests, and the government he will lead, all showcased on the same day, underscores how unprecedented the second Trump presidency and the potential for conflicts of interest will be. [Continue reading…]