Donald Trump’s Business Empire Reportedly Facing A ‘Billion-Dollar Hole’ As He Leaves Office
Donald Trump faces a perilous business landscape as he prepares to leave office and return to private life, with a report claiming that his company will be facing a “billion-dollar hole” that could grow even deeper after the storming of the U.S. Capitol led to his second impeachment.
As Yahoo! Finance reported, the president’s administration had taken what were seen as “extraordinary measures” to prop up his business empire during his four years in office. Trump was long criticized for failing to cut ties with his company — something his predecessors had done with their own private interests. Instead, he turned over the day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization to his adult sons, but did not divest himself and continued to profit from his real estate empire.
During his time in the White House, Trump was often criticized for filtering taxpayer money into his own business. That included regular weekend visits to his properties and golf outings, as well as increased military spending in and around his golf resort in Scotland.
But that was not enough to help the long-term prospects for the Trump Organization, said Dan Alexander, Forbes senior editor.
“Stopping in at Turnberry [Trump’s golf course] and forcing your Secret Service to stay there? Yeah. It’s going to bring you money,” he explained. “But it’s not going to fix the billion-dollar hole.”
Yahoo! Finance added that the moves did little to help his bottom line, and his empire has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic that forced nationwide closures of non-essential businesses. Robert Maguire, research director of watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), told the outlet that the Trump Organization was already facing difficulties even before the events of the last year.
“They were already in trouble,” he said, noting that this was “before the pandemic, and then the pandemic hits and it’s a huge blow.”
The report noted that an analysis from CREW found that money coming into Trump Organization has “flatlined,” and they face even more uncertainty now that Americans and foreigners may cut back on visits to the president’s properties because they are no longer trying to curry favor with him once he is out of the White House.
As The Inquisitr reported, a longtime financial partner may already be cutting ties. Reports indicated that Deutsche Bank AG had planned to end its financial relationship with Trump after Joe Biden is sworn in, and may eventually seize some of his company’s assets to pay off the hundreds of millions of dollars that is owed to them.
