"I was doing services for them. People were staying in these massive hotels, these beautiful hotels," Trump said.

Donald Trump says his businesses received payments from foreign governments because he was “doing services” for them.

Trump was at a Fox News town hall on Wednesday, commenting on a recent report from Democratic lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee. The report, published on January 4, said Trump’s businesses had received at least $7.8 million in foreign payments during his presidency.

“That’s a small amount of money. You know, it sounds like a lot of money. That’s small,” Trump said at the town hall.

The former president then explained that the payments were for accommodation at his clubs and hotels.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    331·
    6 months ago

    “That’s a small amount of money. You know, it sounds like a lot of money. That’s small,” Trump said at the town hall.

    So he’s a cheap bribe.

    • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
      221·
      6 months ago

      He just means it’s a small amount of money for billionaires. They paid outrageous markups.

      The joke is he completely misses the point that he shouldn’t have used his private businesses to host foreign government officials, or to conduct official business. That’s a conflict of interest in itself no matter how much they spent.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          3·
          6 months ago

          What’s the difference between a guy who got a billion dollars the hard way, selling cocaine down in Florida, and the guy who got it the easy way, by scamming a bunch of dumb shit bankers to extend him loans on extremely shady terms and using the credit to speculate in foreclosed golf courses and failing casinos?

          It all spends the same, either way.