By MEG KINNARD and ALEX CONNOR, Associated Press
As Donald Trump assumes the presidency for a second time, he brings with him a wide range of business connections and financial entanglements — and the possibility that those connections could influence his decision-making in the White House.
Trump's team rejects such concerns. “President Trump withdrew from his multibillion-dollar real estate empire to run for office and gave up his government salary. “He became the first president to actually lose his assets while serving in the White House,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Unlike most politicians, President Trump did not enter politics for profit – he is fighting because he loves the people of this country and wants to make America great again.”
But questions remain. Here's a look at the various connections and potential conflicts in Trump's second administration:
Winning Team Publishing
Founded in 2021, Winning Team Publishing is led by Donald Trump Jr. and Sergio Gor, a Trump adviser tapped by the president-elect to run the White House Personnel Office. Gor also led the pro-Trump super PAC Right for America.
According to financial returns filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Trump has earned at least $11.6 million in royalties over the past two years from two of his books produced by Winning Team.
“Letters to Trump” is a collection of correspondence from celebrities and politicians written to him over the years. “Our Journey Together” features hundreds of photos from his first term as president with captions “hand-picked” by Trump. Another coffee-table book, “Save America,” includes memories of Trump’s presidential campaigns and his time in office, as well as an extended reflection on his brush with death during an assassination attempt in July at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Campaign finance records show Trump's political fundraising committees paid Winning Team Publishing more than $242,000 for unspecified books and printing services.
The company also publishes titles written by Trump's most loyal supporters, including Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk.
License Agreements
Trump's name and image are plastered on a dizzying array of goods he promotes and profits from through licensing deals, including Bibles, diamond-encrusted watches, gold sneakers and guitars that cost up to $10,000.
Thousands of copies of the “God Bless the USA” Bible that Trump sells were printed in China, a country he has repeatedly accused of stealing American jobs and engaging in unfair trade practices. As president, Trump would be able to exempt Bibles and other religious texts from the steep tariffs he threatens to impose on imported Chinese products.
Trump's endorsement of a guitar line led to a cease-and-desist letter from Nashville-based Gibson Guitars. A company representative said in a brief statement that the design of the Trump guitars violates Gibson's exclusive trademarks, particularly the body shape of the company's iconic Les Paul model.
Civil Judgments
Trump has more than half a billion dollars in civil lawsuit judgments hanging over him, which will be harder to avoid than the criminal cases brought by the federal government and dropped after his election in November.
A New York judge ordered Trump and his companies to pay more than $450 million earlier this year after ruling that he manipulated his net worth in financial reports to secure cheap loans. That penalty came shortly after Trump was ordered to pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexual assault. A separate jury awarded Trump $5 million to Carroll for sexual abuse and defamation.
Trump has appealed the verdicts in the fraud case and one of the Carroll cases. Its most recent financial disclosure lists more than $101 million in liabilities arising from the two cases.
As president, Trump cannot forgive penalties imposed in civil cases that have nothing to do with his official government duties, said Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School in New York. And since the trials have already taken place, he will be hard-pressed to argue that the cases are an undue burden on his time.
Golf courses
The constellation of high-end golf resorts that Trump owns or manages earned him hundreds of millions of dollars in 2024 and could bring in even larger sums once he's back in the Oval Office.
Trump's financial disclosure reported nearly $267 million in “golf-related” revenue, plus another $161 million in combined “golf and hotel” revenue from his Doral golf club in Miami.
During his first term, Trump frequently promoted his golf courses and played at them regularly, accompanied by a large, taxpayer-funded entourage, leading to criticism that he was using the power of the presidency to enrich himself. Trump pushed to host the Group of Seven international summit in 2019 at the Doral property. But he dropped the plan amid accusations it would violate the Constitution's Emoluments Clause, which prohibits presidents from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments.
The golf courses could also attract foreign officials and special interest groups hoping to gain access and favor by spending large sums at Trump properties.
Mar-a-Lago fees and Secret Service costs
Since the start of Trump's first term, the cost of access to his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, has risen to $1 million, allowing wealthy people to mix pleasure with politics and government business during his frequent visits there the club can.
While Trump has earned income from Mar-a-Lago over the past two years – $111 million – he is accused of charging “exorbitant” room rates of more than $800 a night to agents from the US Secret Service were supposed to protect him on his journey to other Trump family properties.
Who Trump meets at Mar-a-Lago and what he talks about remains largely hidden from the public. According to a 2020 federal appeals court ruling, the Secret Service has no electronic systems to screen or monitor visitors to the president's estate.
truth social
Trump launched his social media platform Truth Social in early 2022 after being banned from major sites like Facebook and the platform formerly known as Twitter following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Although he has since been reinstated to both platforms, Trump has often used Truth Social for more personal commentary, leaving traffic on X and other platforms for more formal statements and statements. The company hasn't disclosed how many users it has, so it's hard to say how wide Trump's reach is.
What is clear, however, is that Trump is the main player in Trump Media & Technology Group, which began trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange in March. The new president owns a majority stake in the company and said shortly after his general election victory that he had “NO INTENTION TO SELL” his shares, which have significantly increased Trump's net worth and were worth around $3.5 billion at the time had US dollars.
Cryptocurrency
Trump has promised to make America the “crypto capital of the planet” upon his return to the White House, a promise that would likely pay off for him personally.
In the midst of the 2024 campaign, Trump launched a new cryptocurrency trading company, which he promoted on the same social media accounts he used for his campaign. His two eldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have also posted about their new platform called World Liberty Financial, as has his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who is married to Eric and also serves as co-chair of the Republican National Committee.
The value of the new money-making venture could explode if Trump pushes through legislative and regulatory changes long sought by crypto advocates.
During his first term, Trump said he was “not a fan” of cryptocurrencies, but has since taken a more positive view – from announcing in May that the campaign would begin accepting donations in cryptocurrencies to attending a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, where he pledged to make donations to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet” and create a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” using the currency the government currently holds.
Several of Trump's Cabinet nominees, including Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick and Trump's Securities and Exchange Commission nominee Paul Atkins, have significant investments in cryptocurrencies.
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