The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches.

[Say it aint so]

....or what the Swamp that needs draining actually looks like:

This summer, Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s Middle East envoy, paid a visit to the coast of Sardinia, a stretch of the Mediterranean Sea crowded with super yachts.​

On one of those extravagant vessels, Mr. Witkoff sat down with a member of the ultra rich ruling family of the United Arab Emirates. He was meeting Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a trim figure in dark glasses who controls $1.5 trillion of the Emiratis’ sovereign wealth.​

It was the latest engagement in a consequential alliance.​

​

Over the past few months, Mr. Witkoff and Sheikh Tahnoon had become both diplomatic allies and business partners, testing the limits of ethics rules while enriching the president, his family and his inner circle, according to an investigation by The New York Times.​

At the heart of their relationship are two multibillion-dollar deals. One involved a crypto company founded by the Witkoff and the Trump families that benefited both financially. The other involved a sale of valuable computer chips that benefited the Emirates economically.​

In May, Mr. Witkoff’s son Zach announced the first of the deals at a conference in Dubai. One of Sheikh Tahnoon’s investment firms would deposit $2 billion into World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency start-up founded by the Witkoffs and Trumps.​

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Two weeks later, the White House agreed to allow the U.A.E. access to hundreds of thousands of the world’s most advanced and scarce computer chips, a crucial tool in the high-stakes race to dominate artificial intelligence. Many of the chips would go to G42, a sprawling technology firm controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon, despite national security concerns that the chips could be shared with China.​

​

Those negotiations involved another key White House official with ties to the tech industry and to the Middle East: David Sacks. A longtime venture capitalist, Mr. Sacks serves as the administration’s A.I. and crypto czar, a newly created position that has allowed him to shape tech policy even as he continues to work in Silicon Valley. NYT​

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One would think given Jim Comer's instance that Joe Biden loaning Hunter $3,000 and Hunter paying him back was a crime, he would be all over this. I mean you can't get more quid pro quo than that.

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[iluvatar5150]

Waiting for the cries of outrage from the Hunter-must-be-jailed crowd...

 

[Say it aint so]

Waiting for the cries of outrage from the Hunter-must-be-jailed crowd...

They are absolutely immune to this. It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to justify Trump's actions, but this (and it's not the only quid pro quo) is too exhausting to even try. Radio silence.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Export of these chips are highly regulated for national security reasons.

[$2 billion hits the table]

Export cleared!

 

[A2SG]

Waiting for the cries of outrage from the Hunter-must-be-jailed crowd...

Hope you brought something to read while you're waiting.

-- A2SG, or at least a crossword puzzle mag or two....

 

[Richard T]

Trump is pretty crafty because he has lots of talented Wall Street people around him now that know how to push the envelope in financial matters. Things like this are why the democrats need to take back at leat the House or the Senate. The power is out of control and far from conservativism.

Today it was announced that Trump wants to do away with publicly traded company's quarterly financial statements and go back to every 6 months like it was before the 1970s. At face value that is not a terrible idea, it would save alot on accounting, but it also means that inside information on a company becomes far more valuable. So much so, that I hope this idea is axed and never makes its way to U.S. stock listed companies. If they want less accounting and regulation, let them be a private company.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Trump is pretty crafty because he has lots of talented Wall Street people around him now that know how to push the envelope in financial matters. Things like this are why the democrats need to take back at leat the House or the Senate. The power is out of control and far from conservativism.

I just wish Dems had somebody who could effectively push back on the corruption narrative.

Today it was announced that Trump wants to do away with publicly traded company's quarterly financial statements and go back to every 6 months like it was before the 1970s. At face value that is not a terrible idea, it would save alot on accounting, but it also means that inside information on a company becomes far more valuable. So much so, that I hope this idea is axed and never makes its way to U.S. stock listed companies. If they want less accounting and regulation, let them be a private company.

That's an interesting idea. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion, but the first thing that comes to my mind is whether it would incentivize executives to take a slightly longer perspective when making decisions.

 

[Richard T]

I just wish Dems had somebody who could effectively push back on the corruption narrative.


That's an interesting idea. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion, but the first thing that comes to my mind is whether it would incentivize executives to take a slightly longer perspective when making decisions.

Yes, Trump did use that reasoning, but the execs are paid millions and surely the astute ones and the boards should be smart enough to play the long game? I don't think that 6 months would make much difference in terms of planning for the corporation. I imagine good things would be pre-announced, bad things though might be hidden until insiders at least can unload their stock. It would create more market violatilty because only two points of data are given to stockholders, and the expectations would be pent up. It would allow for more rumors to play out too. Many in Congress do insider trading so I hope critics think about this.

 

[iluvatar5150]

Yes, Trump did use that reasoning, but the execs are paid millions and surely the astute ones and the boards should be smart enough to play the long game?

lol, no.

I've worked for three companies now that started private, were bought by publicly traded firms, and remained as small entities, with their amount of autonomy diminishing over time. The culture among the workers at all of them was closer to small business/non-corporate, but at the last two, I've had upper management tell us explicitly that publicly traded firms have different incentives and you have to keep that stock value going up-up-up, which means making different choices than you would if you were private and playing the long game. At my current company, the difference has been pretty stark. I came on after the sale, but it was recent enough that tales of The Before Times are still bandied around frequently.

I don't think that 6 months would make much difference in terms of planning for the corporation.

I'm inclined to agree, but a boy can dream.