President Trump, using the presidency’s power to intervene in world sports diplomacy, on the fifth deepening of his efforts to convey an indefinite agreement on the PGA Tour and the Saudi-Standing Liv Gold League that could eventually benefit the golf courses of his family.
For the second time this month, Mr Trump has hosted key negotiators in the White House to try to repair a bitter violation between the famous American golf tour and the rebellious championship from the Saudi Arabia.
Thursday’s meeting was particularly remarkable, including not only Jay Monahan, Commissioner PGA Tour, who visited the Oval Office in early February, but also Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is president of LIV and head of the dominant fund The golf Great Tiger Woods.
The meeting emphasized what ethics experts say is a growing model of conflict of interest in Mr Trump’s second term. While it is common for US presidents to promote US businesses, such as the PGA Tour, Mr Trump’s leading role in these negotiations is extremely unusual because the result could benefit his own company. The Trump family controls one of the best portfolios in the world of golf courses and hosted tournaments for the PGA Tour and, more recently, Liv.
A permanent agreement on opposing circuits could once again lead the top elements of the sport to compete with each other in the Trump family lessons, possibly offering his company Trump millions of dollars and the biggest prestige. It could also require some participation by the Ministry of Justice, whose antitrust impositions have coordinated if an agreement will stifle competition in the United States.
At a Black History Day reception on Thursday, Mr Trump, who has long envisioned as a sports medalist, appeared giddy to host Mr Woods and Golf Adam Scott, who are both members of the Board of Directors. of PGA Tour. He said he had participated in “interesting discussions” with his visitors, but did not work out.
Thursday’s meeting was at least the third time in 16 days when Mr Trump contacted Mr Al-Rumayyan. Earlier this month, the Saudi Arabian official invited the president’s meeting with Mr. Monahan and Mr. Scott. On Wednesday, Mr Al-Rumayyan sat in one of the front series, as the president addressed a conference at Miami Beach funded by an institution related to the wealth fund. He later flew to Washington for the private meeting.
The wealth fund did not comment on Thursday’s meeting, but approached a dinner in Florida hours later, Mr Al-Rumayyan said it was “good”. Did not answer a question about whether the meeting had made progress towards an agreement.
In a statement, Mr Monahan, Mr Scott and Mr Woods described the meeting as a “constructive session” and said they “pledged to move as quickly as possible” to an agreement with the Saudis.
Mr Trump’s decision to promote an agreement fits into an increasingly clear model of involvement in his family’s personal financial interests with his official role. While presidents are exempt from the laws of conflict of interests that prohibit federal officials from taking actions that directly affect their financial entries, other presidents have generally honored this model.
A few days before Mr Trump was inaugurated, a digital currency began called $ Trump and continued to promote it from taking over the duties. Also, since it returns to the White House, it has helped to lead circulation to the truth of social, the social media platform run by Trump Media, a business that is the majority shareholder, using it to communicate for its presidency. Trump Media has just announced that it would extend to financial services products that say that industry experts would require approvals from the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
White house representatives said Mr Trump does not tolerate conflicts of interest, but has not answered specific questions about whether he is dealing with them.
The Trump family golf courses are run by the Trump organization, controlled by the two older sons of the president. The company said the president would have no say in the daily decisions of the company during his second term and that he would not participate in transactions or contracts with a foreign government, except for the usual transactions.
However, ethics and business experts said on Thursday that Trump is still benefiting from an agreement that cures golf rifts. While Trump’s family’s personal share seems evident, the government or public interest is “not clear at all,” said Kathleen Clark, a law professor who specializes in government ethics at the University of Washington in St. Louis.
If an agreement is subject to antitrust or other federal supervision, he said, Mr Trump’s intervention “is even more worrying because it can signal to federal regulators that they should fall into the line” behind it.
The Trump family has business interests that include the Saudis beyond golf. The $ 925 billion sovereignty, Mr Al-Rumayyan Leads, has pulled a private shares fund created by his son-in-law Trump Jared Kushner. Less than two months before Mr Trump was inaugurated, Trump announced two real estate projects in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Mr Trump, who enjoys his own golf course, was willing to restore a sport that was in various fracture degree for several years. Although the tempers have more recently relaxed, LIV 2022 launching effectively required elite players to choose one side: the installation friendly, if they are less lucrative, PGA tour or the high attraction option, Renegade lived by LIV.
The PGA tour, desperate to protect its power and to be well aware of the Saudi Arabian human rights archive, depicted the choice as ethics. LIV players, many of them, became much richer after signing with the Saudi, frame their decisions on more polite terms on issues such as timetables and tournaments.
Throughout, Mr Trump proved a joyful cheerleader for the Saudi Arabia tour. In an interview of 2022, he tightened concerns about the Saudi government’s human rights violations and depicted the swelling of the wealth fund for world sports as an authentic and healthy investment.
“What they do with LIV is very important,” Mr Trump then said, also criticizing the PGA Tour’s approach to negotiating with the Saudi. “They put a lot of efforts on it and a lot of money in it. As you can see.”
Months after these observations, in the midst of differences, The Tour and the Wealth Fund began secret talks and surprised golf in June 2023 with a surprise announcement of a Cruelness and the ambition to combine the business businesses of the rival circuits.
Their agreement, however, faced a complication after another, special concerns between the regulatory authorities of the antitrust legislation in Washington. During President Joseph R. Biden Jr., the two sides submitted sheets of terms of $ 1.5 billion in investment by the Saudis in the recently developed PGA Tour’s commercial arm.
But the Ministry of Justice did not complete the review of the Saudi Arabian transaction before Mr Trump took power last month. And Mr Trump sank into the conversations, as the tour and the wealth fund thought of paths in a transaction that could be considered to be not considered by Mr Biden’s antitrust inspectors.
It is not clear whether an emerging agreement will allow LIV to survive as an autonomous trademark. The circuit has struggled to attract audiences and revenue.
PGA Tour leaders welcomed Mr Trump’s role in the negotiations, which they said they had requested. Mr Monahan said last week that the PGA Tour’s flagship circuit, which he recently played on a 2016 Trump real estate, could return to family lessons.
Maggie Haberman He contributed a report from Washington. Julie Tait He contributed research.
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