Eric Trump Says His Family 'Lost a Fortune' When Father Donald Trump Ran for President
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Eric Trump is speaking out about his father, President Donald Trump following a recent New York Times article that reported the White House showing favoritism towards various companies, special-interest groups and foreign leaders who poured business — and millions of dollars — into Trump's personally owned commercial properties.
The report, which was published on Saturday, detailed the president using his elected position to create new streams of income through his hotels and golf courses, while also rewarding the groups and individuals who patronized his properties.
On Sunday, Eric appeared on ABC's This Week to dispute the Times article. “We've lost a fortune,” Eric told Jonathan Karl. “My father has lost a fortune running for president. He doesn't care. He wanted to do what was right. The last thing I can tell you Donald Trump needs in the world is this job. He wakes up in the morning, and he has to fight you, and he has to fight the entire media. He has to fight the Democrats, and he gets punched in the head every single day.”
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NEW: “My father has lost a fortune,” Eric Trump tells @jonkarl when pressed on a NYT report that Pres. Trump turned “his own hotels and resorts into the Beltway’s new back rooms, where public and private business mix and special interests reign.” https://t.co/fsCP2um0H5 pic.twitter.com/MtZLiszs2K
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) October 11, 2020
The Times article, which is part of the newspaper’s investigation into Trump’s taxes, reported that “60 customers with interests at stake before the Trump administration brought his family business nearly $12 million during the first two years of his presidency,” adding that “almost all saw their interests advanced, in some fashion, by Mr. Trump or his government.”
In a statement to the Times, White House spokesman Judd Deere said the president “turned over the day-to-day responsibilities of the very successful business he built” to Eric and his other adult son, Donald Jr.
“The president has kept his promise every day to the American people to fight for them, drain the swamp and always put America first,” Deere added.
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On Sunday, when Karl asked Trump's son for a direct response to the claims made in the news story, Eric said, “We're a hospitality company. We've got tens of millions of people staying at our properties every single year. The New York Times is absolute fake news. All they want to do is take down my father.”
