Trump's campaign tough talk on China EVAPORATES in real world test

Summary

Podcast Summary: "Trump's campaign tough talk on China EVAPORATES in real world test"

The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Date: May 16, 2026 | Host: Jen Psaki, MS NOW

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Overview of Main Theme

This episode of "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" explores the sharp contrast between Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric on being “tough on China” and his actions during his latest state visit to China during his second term. The discussion analyzes how Trump’s promises and public persona compared to the real-world results, delving into foreign policy issues with China, the war in Iran, Taiwan, and domestic controversies including financial conflicts of interest and Trump’s use of public funds for vanity projects.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump’s Rhetoric vs. Reality on China

• Campaign Toughness: Trump spent both campaigns declaring he was the only candidate strong enough to “go toe-to-toe” with President Xi Jinping of China, often mocking his competitors— especially Kamala Harris— as incapable of doing so ([01:05] Trump: “Can you imagine her dealing with President Xi of China?...I don't think so.”).
• Visit Outcome: On his state visit, Trump was highly complimentary of Xi, calling him a “tremendous leader,” praising his stature, and even his “movie star looks” ([01:55] Trump: “Central casting. You wouldn't, you couldn't find a guy like him. Even his, his physical features...”).
• Host’s Tone: Jen Psaki highlights the irony, noting, “Trump didn’t exactly put on his tough guy, America first routine for President Xi, as he claimed he would do throughout the campaign.” ([02:43])

2. The Iran War and China’s Role

• Ongoing Conflict: The U.S. is stuck in a protracted war with Iran, with the Strait of Hormuz closed for 77 days, impacting oil prices ([02:43]).
• China as Mediator: Trump claimed Xi offered to help resolve the Strait of Hormuz crisis, but when pressed, Trump admitted, “I'm not asking for any favors, because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return. We don't need favors.” ([04:43] Trump).
• Assessment: Psaki and guests note China has little incentive to intervene, and Trump’s claims of Xi’s willingness to help are likely empty ([04:08], [14:12]).

3. Trump’s Stance on Taiwan

• Predecessors’ Position: Even Trump’s predecessor took a stronger stand in pledging U.S. support for Taiwan against a potential Chinese attack ([05:36]).
• Trump’s Response During the Visit: Trump waffled on the U.S. commitment, saying, “I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away...I don't want to say. I'm not going to say that. There's only one person that knows that...Me.” ([05:59], [06:11]).
• Expert Analysis: Michael McFaul calls this “remarkable” and “not much of a credible commitment” for Taiwan, arguing ambiguity or deterrence is undermined ([14:55]).
  • Memorable Quote: McFaul: “If you're the Taiwanese listening to that, that doesn't sound like much of a credible commitment.” ([14:55])

4. Promises on Economic Fronts, Unkept

• Preventing Chinese Land Ownership: Trump had promised, “I will ban Communist China from buying up American farmland...” ([07:40]).
• Walkback: In practice, Trump rationalizes existing Chinese purchases as longstanding and too disruptive to reverse ([08:11]).
• Host’s Summary: Psaki observes, “Looks like Trump's not exactly keeping that promise he made...” ([08:35]), concluding his tough talk resulted in few concrete policy outcomes.

5. Relationship Over Results

• Trump’s Takeaway from the Visit: When pressed on deliverables, Trump said, “i think the most important thing is relationship. It's all about relationship. I have a very good relationship with President Xi and with China. And it sounds like something that doesn't mean anything, but it's everything.” ([09:15])
• Psaki’s Tone: She wryly repeats, “Can you imagine that guy sitting across from Xi Jinping?” ([09:29])

6. Panel Analysis: Michael McFaul & Barbara Starr

• McFaul:
  • Praises the summary and underscores the “remarkable flip” in Republican China policy. ([10:13])
  • Notes the absence of any use of the word “communist” and lack of tangible policy achievements: “There's not a single concrete deliverable that makes the American people better off, more secure as a result of this trip.” ([10:13])
• Starr:
  • Frames Xi as disciplined and thinking long-term, more focused on his strategy with Taiwan and the Middle East than helping the U.S. resolve its Iran crisis. ([12:36])
  • Points out that Xi’s public comments were restrained and made no mention of Iran. ([14:12])
• Taiwan Arms Sales as Bargaining Chip: McFaul warns Trump’s hint at using arms sales to Taiwan as a negotiating lever is “a disaster.” ([14:55])

7. China’s Strategic Interests & U.S. Military Strain

• Starr’s Assessment:
  • China’s war interest is moderate; Xi is watching as U.S. resources are stretched by the Iran conflict, which indirectly weakens the U.S. global posture ([17:19]).
  • China could support Iran, and the war drains U.S. resources in the Pacific, increasing risk ([17:19]).

8. Trump’s Domestic Financial Conduct and Slush Funds

• Massive Stock Trades:
  • Trump’s financial disclosures revealed 3,700 transactions in three months, totaling up to $750 million, notably including well-timed Nvidia buys just before regulatory news ([23:24]).
  • Ethical Concerns: Unlike previous presidents, Trump’s trust is not “blind”— he and his family have knowledge of or potential influence over investment activity ([25:40]).
  • Congressman Jamie Raskin: Calls for banning stock trades by officeholders: “The presidency should not be a money making enterprise. The President has made more than $1 billion since he took office.” ([26:28])
• Controversial DOJ Slush Fund:
  • $1.7B discretionary fund could be distributed to January 6 insurrectionists, “proud boys, oath keepers”— described by Raskin as “an outrage. It's a scandal. It's unconstitutional, it's illegal.” ([28:46])

9. Potential Legislative Responses

• Raskin’s Reforms:
  • Calls for real-time reporting of presidential emoluments and a ban on self-pardons ([31:31]).
  • Seeks tighter oversight and reporting of foreign payments and greater transparency on pardons ([31:31]).

10. Trump Family Business & China Connections

• Eric Trump’s Role in Crypto & AI:
  • Reports show Eric Trump intertwined with an AI and crypto business working with a Chinese company tied to the Communist Party ([35:03]).
  • Contradictory statements about Eric’s board status at ALT 5 Sigma are contrasted with public and SEC records outlining involvement ([36:04]).

11. Trump Vanity Projects and Use of Public Funds

• Reflecting Pool & Garden of American Heroes:
  • Trump’s blue-painting of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was rushed, awarded to a firm with tenuous qualifications, resulting in cost overruns and possible defects ([41:49]).
  • Garden of American Heroes project has ballooned to 250 statues; spending and process remain opaque ([37:38], [41:49]).
  • Reporter David Farenthalt: Critiques the no-bid contracts as both likely illegal and poor practice—“not just a sort of a good practice, it's the law” ([44:25]).
  • Exposes contradictions in Trump’s claim to have a “pool guy” for the project ([42:31], [43:56]).

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Trump’s praise for Xi:

  “He’s a tremendous leader...Even his, his physical features, you know, he’s tall, very tall.” — Donald Trump ([01:55])

• On Taiwan:

  “You know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away.” — Donald Trump ([05:59]) “If you’re the Taiwanese listening to that, that doesn’t sound like much of a credible commitment.” — Michael McFaul ([14:55])

• On deliverables:

  “I think the most important thing is relationship. It’s all about relationship.” — Donald Trump ([09:15])

• On Trump’s foreign policy style:

  “It’s just all about Trump and how special Xi Jinping is treating Trump. It’s not about our workers, it’s not about our farmers, it’s not about deterrence, it’s not about freedom.” — Michael McFaul ([19:18])

• On financial conflicts:

  “The presidency should not be a money making enterprise. The President has made more than $1 billion since he took office.” — Rep. Jamie Raskin ([26:28])

• On the garden and reflecting pool projects:

  “The guy we were already concerned about getting a big job because he was a pool guy is not even a pool guy, which is quite something.” — Jen Psaki ([43:56]) “Not just a sort of a good practice, it's the law.” — David Farenthalt ([44:25])

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening & Trump's Campaign Rhetoric vs. Reality: 00:51–03:38
• Trump on China’s Help with Iran: 03:38–04:56
• Taiwan Discussion: 05:36–06:47
• Trump’s Economic Promises: 07:40–08:35
• Panel Analysis with Michael McFaul & Barbara Starr: 09:08–20:44
• Financial Disclosures & Stock Trades (with Rep. Jamie Raskin): 23:24–33:17
• Eric Trump and Business Relations: 35:03–37:38
• National Monuments & Vanity Projects, Reflecting Pool (with David Farenthalt): 37:38–45:33

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a pointed breakdown of Trump’s China trip, exposing the gap between his combative campaign persona and the sycophantic, result-free real-world diplomacy. It also reveals ongoing controversies over ethics, conflicts of interest, and the repeated blurring of public business and private gain, both domestically and on the international stage. The expert panel underscores how these issues combine to pose risks to U.S. credibility, security, and democracy.

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Transcript

[Narrator/Announcer]

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[Host (Jen)]

When Donald Trump was running for president, you may remember this, he had a question he loved to ask a particular thought experiment about a tete, a tete between Vice President Harris and, and President Xi. And it went like this.

[Donald Trump]

Kamala Harris is so incompetent.

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

Can you imagine her dealing with President Xi of China? Can you imagine her dealing with President Xi? Can you imagine with President Xi? Can you imagine her negotiating with President Xi of China? Can you imagine her standing with President Xi of China? I don't think so.

[Host (Jen)]

Can you imagine? He said that so many times. I mean, Trump spent that campaign railing about Trump, China's influence in the world. And he repeatedly insisted that he alone was the only candidate tough enough to go toe to toe with President Xi of China. He was the only person who could show Xi who's boss. Well, Donald Trump just finished his first state visit to China in his second term. And how did it go? Did big, bad Donald Trump stand up to the Chinese leader?

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

We have a friendship, really. He's a tremendous leader. He's been here a long time. Very powerful, very strong. There's no doubt about it. I say about him that if you went to Hollywood and you looked for a leader of China to play a role in a movie. Central casting, central casting. You wouldn't, you couldn't find a guy like him. Even his, his physical features, you know, he's tall, very tall. I'll get criticized. They always criticize me when I say good things about certain leaders. But. And this one, but he's a leader for China. He's led almost 1.5 billion people for a long Time. And he's respected.

[Host (Jen)]

Can you imagine if Kamala Harris was president? Could she lavish the leader of the Chinese Communist Party with praise like that? Would she be able to capture what a tall, beautiful autocrat with movie star look she is with the same gushing prose? I don't think so. I don't think she has that in her. Okay, so Donald Trump didn't exactly put on his tough guy, American first routine for President Xi, as he claimed he would do throughout the campaign. But maybe that's okay. After all, Trump has just plunged our country into a disastrous and protracted war with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz has been closed for 77 days now, driving up global global oil prices and forcing Americans to pay a whole lot more when they fill up their gas tank. Maybe Trump is focused on getting President Xi's help to reopen the Strait and fix Trump. Big Trump's big mess doesn't make a ton of sense, but maybe that's where his focus is. Any progress on that front?

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

President Xi would like to see a deal made. He would like to see a deal made. And he did offer. He said, if I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help. Because he did say that. Yeah, he did say that. And look, anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of a relationship with him. But he said, I would love to be a help if I could be of any help whatsoever. He'd like to see the hormones strait open. Said, if I could be of any help whatsoever, I would like to help.

[Host (Jen)]

Well, hey, I mean, even Sean Hannity sounded a little surprised there. Did you catch that? As he should be, because China has no real incentive to help end this war. But Trump says President Xi agreed to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Maybe something, maybe miraculously will come out of this after all. Now all Trump has to do is seal the deal with those trademark negotiating skills he's always bragging about. Any luck with that one?

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Did President Xi make any commitments to put pressure on Iranians to reopen the trademark movement?

[Donald Trump]

I'm not asking for any favors, because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return. We don't need favors. I didn't ask him to put pressure because I don't need favors, literally.

[Host (Jen)]

On the flight home from China where he did the interview with Sean Hannity. So no help with the Strait of Hormuz, then? Cool. Cool. I guess Trump's biggest international blunder will continue to just blunder along for now. Then again, this trip was about more than just fixing Trump's latest scripts. It was about reaffirming the U.S. s position on big decades long issues. Issues like China's claim over the country of Taiwan. For years now, people have been worried that China may try to invade Taiwan, the country by force. And even Trump's immediate predecessor, the man Trump loves to criticize as weak, took a harder line than US Presidents had in some time.

[Congressman Jamie Raskin]

Would US Forces defend the island?

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

Yes. If in fact there was an unprecedented attack.

[Host (Jen)]

To be clear, sir, US Forces, US

[Congressman Jamie Raskin]

Men and women would defend Taiwan in

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

the event of a Chinese invasion? Yes.

[Host (Jen)]

So what did tough on China, Donald Trump have to say about the issue of Taiwan on this trip?

[Donald Trump]

You know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away. I think that's the last thing we need. We're doing very well.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Would the US Defend Taiwan if it came to it?

[Donald Trump]

I don't want to say. I'm not going to say that. There's only one person that knows that you know who it is. Me. I'm the only person. That question was asked to me today by President Xi. I said, I don't talk about that.

[Host (Jen)]

Trump says he's not going to talk about his position on Taiwan. Although I kind of feel like he sort of did tell us his position in the first part of that clip. Let's just play that part again.

[Donald Trump]

You know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away. I think that's the last thing.

[Host (Jen)]

I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away. It sounds kind of like Trump is saying he's not interested in defending Taiwan if they're invaded by China, which was the position of most residents in recent memory. And for the record, Taiwan isn't 9,500 miles away from the U.S. it's 6,500 miles away, or about the same distance as Iran. You know, the place where Donald Trump decided we did need a war for reasons he has never effectively explained. So I guess Trump wasn't interested in standing up for Taiwan on this trip, but maybe he was just. He's saving all his leverage for the stuff that really matters to the folks he likes to call his people. I mean, after all, Trump has spent years making big promises to parts of his base about how he would specifically stand up for them against China. Promises like this one, which Trump made on the campaign trail just a few years ago.

[Donald Trump]

I will ban Communist China from buying

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

up American farmland and other critical infrastructure in the United States. You have to do it.

[Donald Trump]

You have to do it.

[Host (Jen)]

So Trump promised he would ban China from buying up U.S. farmland. He said you have to do it. So did he do it? Did he keep that promise?

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

Chinese nationals have been buying up thousands and thousands of acres of farmland, ranch land, and land near military installations. Look, it's not that I love it. You want to see farm prices drop, you want to see farmers lose a lot of money, just take that out of the market. But they've had a lot of land for a long time.

[Host (Jen)]

There you go. Looks like Trump's not exactly keeping that promise he made on the campaign trail either. Look, Donald Trump talked a lot, a lot, a lot of big talk about how he would be tough on China as President Trump. But the end of this trip, it seems like he's done really nothing for his voters, nothing for Taiwan, nothing to end his war in Iran. The only things he seems to have done was compliment the leader of the Chinese Communist Party for his good looks and his height. I guess after all that, what does Donald Trump want us to believe he got out of this trip? What was our big success?

[Congressman Jamie Raskin]

What's the most significant specific thing you walk away from here for the U.S.

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

i think the most important thing is relationship. It's all about relationship. I have a very good relationship with President Xi and with China. And it sounds like something that doesn't mean anything, but it's everything.

[Host (Jen)]

Can you imagine that guy sitting across from Xi Jinping? Unfortunately, we don't have to. I could not think of two better people to break down all of this madness with me and everything that just happened on that trip. Michael McFaul is the former U.S. ambassador to Russia. Barbara Starr is the legendary former Pentagon correspondent for cnn. Both of them have been on many, many, many trips, international trips, with many leaders in the past, and I'm so grateful they're joining me now. Ambassador McFaul, let me start with you. I just outlined some of the biggest issues that were at stake during this visit. We talked about this late last night when it was. The trip was still a bit ongoing, but as you looked, it's now over. What did Trump and really the United States get out of this trip?

[Michael McFaul]

Jen, you just summarized it brilliantly. That was a fantastic lay down. And I'm so glad you reminded everybody about what he said he was going to do with China. Remember when he first ran for president, it was all about China. China's eating our lunch. China's taking our jobs. They're doing all these horrible things to us. And he used in that phrase that clip you just showed Communist China, right? You never heard him use the word communist once on this trip. And I just think this flip is remarkable and I hope his voters noticed it. I hope Republicans noticed it because for decades the Republican Party was always saying Democrats are weak on China, we're going to be tough. And now he is completely flipped. You could not do a bigger flip than what he said he was going to do from his first term. And you could say, well, okay, Mike, settle down. We got really important things we got to do. Therefore, he has to say nice things about the chairman of the Communist Party of China. He has to praise him as the great, great leader. We don't do that for our allies. We only do it for Putin and Xi Jinping. But he has to do it, Mike, because we have to get some concrete things done for the American people. But as you just showed, there's not a single concrete deliverable that makes the American people better off, more secure as a result of this trip. And that's, I think, makes it very bankrupt because everything was so sycophantic about what a great leader he was. You would hope you could translate that into something tangible. And I haven't seen it yet. Now maybe there's something behind closed doors we'll lean about, learn about later. But I haven't seen it so far.

[Host (Jen)]

No, I haven't either. And usually you would see it, cuz usually all of the work is done in the lead up to the trip and then the presidents announce things because all the work was done by cabinet members and others. Barbara, one of the things about when reporters are traveling on these trips, which you know very well, but for people watching out there is they pay attention not just to what the US Is saying, but also what the other country is saying, what leaders from the other country is saying and what they are reading out about the trip. As you've looked at that aspect of this, how do you think the Chinese see this trip and how do you think they see kind of the US Engagement on this trip?

[Barbara Starr]

Well, you know, I think that's right now the most fascinating part of all of this. Let me just say the ambassador will know this a lot better than I will. But from a reporter's point of view, I think it's fascinating to contemplate what Xi himself may be thinking after meeting with Trump. You know, remember, Xi, I think is fair to say, takes a very long view of what is going on in the world. He is looking ahead. He's looking ahead years from now to what he may want to do with Taiwan. He's looking ahead to what could the Middle east look like after this conflict ends. He's looking ahead to what kind of relationship he wants with Iran. And he has Vladimir Putin about to arrive next in Beijing for a visit. So you got to wonder, I think it would be fascinating to know Xi and Putin sit down and somehow they say to each other, so what do you think of Trump? And you know, what would those two guys have talk about in that conversation? I think it's really important to remember that President Xi, one of the big things here, at least publicly, from what we know, he was very disciplined, very message oriented and he did not show his hand. We don't know what his real plan is about Taiwan and we really don't know whether he even will have any interest in stepping in and talking to Iran about reopening the straight of Hormuz. President Trump says that maybe she wants to get involved, maybe he wants to help. But we don't know that from President Xi himself yet.

[Host (Jen)]

No. And it wasn't in their readout. They didn't even mention Iran in their readout, which is kind of telling in some ways. Let me ask Ambassador McFaul just about Taiwan, because to Barbara's point, there's sometimes there's unresolved issues, you know, what they have said, but you don't really know where it goes from here. And on this trip, President Trump went from, they went from not including Taiwan in their readout, though the Chinese included Taiwan. Then he went to kind of restating Xi's position on Taiwan. And then he gave sort of a garbally answer, which was a bit non committal on Taiwan. But we don't really know what those conversations were. What do you make of them and what are you kind of watching for? Wary of, I should say, on that front, moving forward?

[Michael McFaul]

Well, we don't know what he said in the meeting. You're right about that. That they didn't read it out was striking to me. Usually you read out things like that, and especially on Taiwan, you read out to reaffirm strategic ambiguity. They didn't do that. But two things were striking for me from the interviews he did afterwards. First of all, he said, why do we, we don't want a war 9,000 miles away. We don't want to do that. Man. If you're the Taiwanese listening to that, that doesn't sound like much of a credible commitment. And I was in Taiwan last year, and I can tell you they were already nervous. That doesn't sound like you're reaffirming the status quo. But then secondly, he then said, when asked in one of the post Xi Jinping meeting interviews, are you going to sell the arms to Taiwan? That's already been agreed to. Congress has already proved it. And he said, I don't know. I want to use it as a bargaining chip. That is a disaster. We should never link what we do with Taiwan to what we bargain with the chairman of the Communist Party of China. That is disastrous to me. And moreover, the thing that the president doesn't understand is how those things are intertwined. I don't want a war in Taiwan. I don't think any Americans want to go to war over Taiwan. So you know how you keep the peace? You give Taiwan weapons. That's called deterrence. And that has worked for decades and decades. And he decided to put some doubt about that and say, well, I might want to use it as a bargaining chip. And my first reaction was to get what, you know, to sell more Nvidia chips to China. That would be a disaster. And I hope that will get untangled by the, you know, over the course of people like us talking about it when he gets back home here.

[Host (Jen)]

Yeah, it's a misunderstanding. You know far more about it than I do. But just about the dynamics and how these type of negotiations even work. Barbara, let me ask you, I mean, to your. What you said earlier, I mean, we don't know. Trump sort of said that Xi had offered help and then he backed off of that a little bit. We really don't know. There's been a lot of reporting about how she and the Chinese kind of benefit in different ways financially, maybe reputationally, as this war has continued. Does China have any incentive to help us, to help Trump help the United States end this war? Like, how would they see that from their strategic standpoint?

[Barbara Starr]

Well, they do get the majority of their oil imports from the Middle east region, so that's important to them. But I don't know that. Again, I think she's taking a very long strategic view on this. Look, he knows. He's watching this war day by day, and he knows that no matter what the political rhetoric is from the administration, that the US Every day they're at war with Iran. US Weapons stockpiles are going lower and lower, and that means the US Military is stretched and they're stretched around the world right now, and that includes the Pacific. I think it was fascinating this week to see both the army and the Navy testify before Congress that even with a trillion dollar budget plan, they're so short of money they may have to cut training. And that is something that begins to impact the US Military around the world, globally, if that comes to pass. And that's something that somebody like Xi is going to watch every day and see how that goes. And he's going to fit that into, I think we can assume, into his calculations about how he wants to move on the global stage. And nothing says he is going to rule out providing Chinese weaponry, Chinese technology to the Iranians. So whatever promises President Trump thinks he might get, might have gotten or might get down the road, I think there's a very long way to go on that.

[Host (Jen)]

Yeah, no question about it. It's all interconnected as part of the lesson here. Let me ask you, Ambassador McFaul, this was kind of happening late last night when we were talking, but it wasn't clear exactly what was happening. But it seems like President Xi made sure to point out that he had shown Vladimir Putin the same garden he walked through with Trump. It was like a talking point he had in his pocket. What is that about? What did you think of that?

[Michael McFaul]

Well, he definitely played it that way, of course. But I was struck by our president asking the question, has any other important leaders been here? Right. And Xi Jinping wanted to assure him, no, you're very special. And that just was another sign. And he just said it in the clip you played a few minutes ago of this just over personalization of American foreign policy. It's just all about Trump and how special Xi Jinping is treating Trump. It's not about our workers, it's not about our farmers. It's not about deterrence, it's not about freedom. Right. You know, no words of democracy and human rights came up. Most certainly. He didn't get anything on Iran. Let's just be clear. It's like, give me a call if I can help out. There's nothing there. But when asked, what did you get out of the meeting? He just said in the interview, you played well. I have a close personal friendship with Xi Jinping. And for Trump, this is a pattern we see about the way he conducts foreign policy around the world. It's his friendship with Xi that's the deliverable, Jen, in the State Department parlance, it's his friendship with Putin that is what he cares about. And that national interest of the United, the American people in the United States, that's a secondary concern. And I just think that's deeply damaged to our long term national security interests.

[Host (Jen)]

The deep personalization is such a good way of describing it. Ambassador McFaul, Barbara Starr, thank you both so much for being here with me on a Friday night. Appreciate it. Okay, come up. New financial disclosures from Donald Trump show some very well timed trades. This guy really is just the luckiest president of all time and now he's decided to spread the wealth with a $1.7 billion slush fund. Congressman Jamie Raskin is standing by and he joins me to talk about all of it next. I'm Hannah.

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Tennessee 2012.

[Host (Jen)]

Yesterday, Donald Trump, through the Office of Government Ethics, released two new financial disclosure forms detailing more than 3,700 financial transactions in the first three months of 2026. And according to Reuters analysis, the filings show anywhere from 220 million to $750 million in trades across major companies and municipal bonds. If that sounds like a lot of trades, it's because it is a lot of trades. The president of one investment group said he was baffled and that in his 40 plus years on Wall street, this is an unusual amount of trading by any standard. It's also unusual even when you compare it with Trump's previous financial disclosures. I mean, his first financial disclosure this term, which actually covered seven months, only reported 690 transactions. That is nowhere close to the recent 3,700 transactions that include stock trades in companies like Apple, Meta, GE Aerospace, Blackstone, Goldman, SA, Citigroup and BlackRock, all of whose CEOs, by the way, just traveled with Trump on his trip to China. Now, some of these stock purchases also appear pretty well timed. As notice points out, on January 6th, Trump purchased anywhere between 500,000 to a million dollars worth of stock in the tech company Nvidia, just a week before his Commerce Department officially approved the sale of some Nvidia chips to China. Now, the White House has said there are no conflicts of interest and that the president's assets are held in a trust managed by his children. The Trump Organization in its own statement, said that President Trump's investment holdings are maintained exclusively through fully discretionary accounts independently managed by third party financial institutions, and that neither President Trump, his family, nor the Trump Organization plays any role in selecting, directing or approving specific investments. Now, as reassuring as the promises sound, as the Washington Post points out, Trump's arrangement differs from previous presidents blind trusts which actually prevented their owners from knowing how their investments were being managed. Not to mention that the only reason why we're even talking about these financial disclosures is because Trump is the first president to have to release them due to the stock trading in his name, which is interesting considering he endorsed a congressional stock ban during the frenzy of all of these transactions.

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

As we ensure that all Americans can profit from a rising stock market, let's also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information.

[Host (Jen)]

Don't you love the Nod and standing ovation from little Mike Johnson and J.D. vance behind him. Now, reportedly when he said that Donald Trump, that is, one Democratic congressman shouted, how about you first? That's pretty true. Good point there. Joining me now is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Okay, there's so much to dig into here. Let me start with this. The Trump White House and Trump Organization are insisting that there is no conflict of interest going on here. What do you think?

[Congressman Jamie Raskin]

I think we need to ban individual stock trades by members of Congress, by the President, by everybody who holds elective office in the federal government. I mean, we are there to be doing the public interest. And it's one thing for people to have a retirement fund, to have a mutual fund, it's managed by a third party financial institution. It's another thing for members of Congress and the President and Vice President and so on, to be engaged in individual stock trades when people obviously get information all day long about public policy, about the movement of legislation, of executive orders and so on. And I think the vast majority of the American people agree with that. And that's the real issue here. The presidency should not be a money making enterprise. The President has made more than $1 billion since he took office. He's opened up all kinds of crypto scams, which are channels for foreign governments to influence him, special interests to influence him. And so we've got to blow the COVID off of that whole system of corruption. And of course, the President has been receiving hundreds of million of dollars from foreign governments and things like, you know, airplanes and people giving lots of money through his hotels, his golf courses, his resorts, trademarks, you name it. All of that is in violation of the foreign government monuments clause and the domestic emoluments clause says the President is limited to what he can get from the US Government to his salary. And then he was trying to shake the IRS down for $10 billion and now has set up this utterly corrupt $1.7 billion political slush fund at the Department of Justice.

[Host (Jen)]

Let's talk about that, because that news just came out yesterday. We talked about it a lot last night on the show. It's a slush fund. I think anybody watching knows this or has read the newspaper about this, knows this. A $1.7 billion slush fund that could go and pay money to people like the insurrectionists who, who marched through our Capitol, right? I mean, who attacked our Capitol on January six. Those are some of the people, the fake electors and others. What. Tell me more about what went through your head when you saw that. And you are a person who's always thinking about policy, like, what can be done to stop it.

[Congressman Jamie Raskin]

Well, the first thing is the same week he says that he doesn't care about the financial situation of Americans, that he's not interested in, that he proves he cares about his own financial situation. He's engaged in thousands of individual stock trades. But he also proves he's interested in the financial situation of proud boys and Oath Keepers, insurrectionists and rioters who compose his once and future private militia for political action in the streets or at the Capitol or what have you. It's obviously a very dangerous thing. This is not his. His first political slush fund. That's what the Board of Peace is. Now. I couldn't get the. The Trademark and Patent Office director to tell me, because he registered this. He couldn't tell me whether it was public, were private, it was American, it was foreign, whether it was for profit, not for profit. But this Board of Peace got $1.5 billion through the state Department, money that was supposed to be set aside for disaster relief. That's what Congress appropriated for. But that $1.5 billion has now gone to the Board of Peace, for which Donald Trump has declared himself chairman for life. He got a billion dollars from Qatar. He got a billion dollars from the United Arab Emirates, a billion dollars from Saudi Arabia. So all these political slush funds and. But we didn't vote for that in Congress. We have the power of the purse. We didn't set up a $1.7 billion slush fund for him to give to his, you know, riot squad that. We never voted for that. And we. We would never vote for that. And he could never get that through Congress. So that's an illegitimate use of federal money. And Moreover, also the 14th Amendment of the Constitution in Section 4 says that public money shall not go to the purposes of paying for insurrection or rebellion against the Union. That was obviously targeted at the Confederacy and repaying their debts, but it's stated in general terms. And what is this for? If he decides to give, say, a million dollars to each of 1500 insurrectionists and rioters. So the whole thing is an outrage. It's a scandal. It's unconstitutional, it's illegal. And I am beseeching my Republican colleagues to take their constitutional seriously and stand up for the power of appropriation that belongs in Article 1 with Congress.

[Host (Jen)]

Okay, everyone out there, quickly, before you go, everybody out there wants to know solutions. What can they get excited about that people like you are introducing you have introduced new legislation to curb corruption like the kind we've seen. What pieces do you think are most critical in it?

[Congressman Jamie Raskin]

Well, look, we need to crack down on the violation of the emoluments clauses. And so any time that the President is taking a payment from a foreign government or state, it must be reported immediately to Congress. And we should have everybody in Congress agree to that, because the Constitution says that the President may not receive a present an emolument, which means a payment, an office or title of any kind whatever, without the consent of Congress. So it's got to come immediately to Congress. And then we should have to vote within seven days or 10 days. We should have to vote immediately on it. Do you know how many times, Jen, President Trump has come to Congress to ask for our permission or our consent? Zero. It never happened. So we need a legislative apparatus on that also. The pardons are for sale. Everybody knows the pardons are for sale. All the white collar fraudsters, the white collar criminals, are lining up through Trump's various approved lawyers to go and make their deal. They basically got rid of the real pardon attorney in the pardon office, and now it's just out of Donald Trump's back pocket. He decides who's gonna get a pardon. Well, one thing we need to do is to make it clear the President cannot pardon himself. That violates the central principle of our rule of law. As James Madison put it, no man can be a judge in his own case. So we need to make clear you can't pardon yourself. It's bad enough that he got his gerrymandered Supreme Court to declare that the President could commit felony crimes under the auspices of his office and not be prosecuted for them. But we at least need to crack down on the abuse of the pardon power by bringing some light into it. Some real transparency, some real reporting about financial transactions that are taking place, and then a ban on the self pardon of the President.

[Host (Jen)]

A lot to be done. Congressman Jamie Raskin, thank you as always. We'll be right back after a very quick break.

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[Host (Jen)]

Today the adult son of the President of the United States, Eric Trump, came after us on social media and accused us of lying. You see, on Wednesday we covered this story from the Financial Times, which reported that an AI company with ties to the Trump family crypto business was chasing a deal with a Chinese chip making company that members of Congress have warned is connected to the Chinese Communist Party. Specifically, Eric took issue with us describing him as a member of the board of that AI company, a company called Alt five Sigma. And in his tweet today, Eric says he has never, in all caps I would note, been on the board of Alt 5. Not now, not ever. Which is a little confusing considering that this is how he was introduced at the Nasdaq just last summer when Alt 5 rang the opening bell.

[Nasdaq Event Host]

It is my great pleasure to welcome Alt 5 board member Eric Trump. Now please join me in welcoming Alt five Sigma Chairman Zach Witkoff and Director Eric Trump to the podium for further remarks.

[Congressman Jamie Raskin]

I now want to welcome fellow board member and World Liberty Co Founder Eric Trump to the stage to make a few remarks.

[Host (Jen)]

Now, to be as fair as possible to Eric, I should say that his role at Alt 5 is at the very least been complicated. We do know that he's not currently a director on the board, but as you just heard, the company initially announced that he was becoming a director on Alt 5's board of directors. Likewise, a company filing with the SEC said he was being appointed as a director on the board, and the company's website also listed him as a director on their leadership page. And then that situation changed because in subsequent filings with the sec. Eric was designated as an observer on the board, a role that typically means you cannot cast a vote at board meetings, but you are able to attend them. And here's the thing, an important thing. Eric Trump's connections to the company have never just been limited to him being a board observer, because alt 5 Sigma is deeply intertwined with the Trump family cryptocurrency company that Eric Trump co founded, World Liberty Financial. I mean, let's just take a listen to why alt5sigma was ringing the opening bell at the Nasdaq last summer.

[Nasdaq Event Host]

Today we celebrate this week's landmark agreement between Alt5 Sigma and World Liberty Financial. This significant milestone puts Alt5 at the forefront of decentralized finance as you now hold 7.5% of the total supply of World Liberty Financial tokens.

[Host (Jen)]

It was a one and a half billion dollar deal, a deal that involved the Trump family cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, receiving shares in ALT5 Sigma in exchange for $750 million worth of their crypto tokens. It also meant that Zach Witkoff, one of Eric Trump's co founders at World Liberty Financial and the son of Trump Middle east advisor Steve Witkoff, would become chairman of the ALT 5 Sigma board. So Eric Trump says he has never been on the board of Alt 5. Not now, not ever. Company that publicly introduced him as a board member at the nasdaq, a company that in SEC filings has described him as a board observer, a company that bought hundreds of millions of dollars worth of World Liberty Financials cryptocurrency, a company that World Liberty Financial is a major stakeholder in and a company that the Financial Times reported was chasing a deal with a Chinese firm that members of Congress say is connected to the Chinese Communist Party. Eric, of course, says that he has no business interest in China at all and that he joined his dad's official trip there for one reason and one reason alone. As a loving son who adores his dad. I'll let you be the judge. We'll be right back. On his flight back from China today, there were two things very clearly on Trump's mind. The first being that Trump that China has a ballroom. He posted online that we should, too. There we go. In another post, Trump announced. Trump announced that Washington, DC's West Potomac park will be the location for a sculpture garden that he has long pushed for. Trump first proposed this art project back in 2020, at the end of his first term and during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. Now, after Trump saw protesters vandalize statues of Confederate generals and other leaders. He signs an executive order creating a task force to expeditiously open a national garden of American heroes with statues depicting a group of, well, mostly white men, from George Washington to Davy Crockett to Antonin Scalia, along with some abolitionists and civil rights heroes like Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King, Jr. There were 31 figures in total for that initial proposal. So remember that number, because after Trump lost the 2020 election and Joe Biden took office, this whole thing kind of went away for a while. And of course, now it is back and it is bigger than ever, because according to the Washington Post now the project will feature life size statues of roughly 250Americans. Added to the list are Albert Einstein, Alex Trebek, Dr. Seuss, and Kobe Bryant. At this point, it's hard to keep track of all of it and all of Trump's vanity projects. We have some of them on your screen right there. I mean, he destroyed the East Wing and the Rose Garden. He wants a triumphal arch so he can play being a Roman emperor. Now, 250 life size sculptures, I guess, is the latest obsession. And all of these attempts to physically imprint himself on Washington, D.C. just keep getting bigger and more expensive and harder to know who exactly is paying for it. Case in point, the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pole. We've talked about this this week, but at first Trump said it would cost about $1.8 million to resurface and paint the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial bright blue. And if that already sounds like a whole lot of money to you, well, this week the New York Times, David Farenthal reported that the project awarded on a no bid contract now costs seven times that amount, a whopping $13.1 million. Whew. Joining me now is David Farenthalt, investigative reporter for the New York Times. All right, David, there are a lot of projects to be following and watching and paying attention to. And I think we're all grateful you are doing that. Let me start with one of the things you reported this week that the Interior Department staff members have raised concerns about the quality and speed of the repair work that a contractor is performing on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. You can see some of it there. It's uneven. There are bubbles in it. Explain what those concerns are and why is that important.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Well, this is a project that, as you said, is a no bid contract. And the logic of giving out as a no bid contract was that they had to go fast. They wanted to be sure this was ready by July 4th. And in fact, the due date for finishing the pool is supposed to be May 22nd. So it's ready for the summer of celebrations. The problem is it doesn't seem like it's going to make that deadline. And that's partly because the project is taking longer because there are these defects. You talked about bubbles and pinholes and other things in the layers of waterproofing that you have to go back and fix, and that takes time. And there's also a question about the unevenness of the paint. Right. It's not all just one color of blue. It's a number of patches of blue. And there's some concern from the Interior Department about what would that look like when it's finally done and filled with water.

[Host (Jen)]

One of the things we've talked about a bit this week is that Trump, Trump kept saying, my pool guy, my pool guy, I have a pool guy. And he was gonna give his contract to this pool guy, and then he kind of reversed course and said he had nothing to do with it. Do you know, you have paid attention to this more than almost anyone. What is going on with it? Where is that pool guy? Is he involved? How did the no bid contract happen? Explain it to everyone out there, because I think people are interested.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Well, Trump didn't just sort of say this offhand. He made a big deal out about it in the Oval Office, and then he released a separate YouTube video where he told this story, and he said, you know, this reflecting pool has lots of problems. The Biden administration was going to take more than $100 million. Eventually, the story he got up to $400 million. It was going to cost $400 million to do it their way. But I talked to my pool guy. He can do it for a million, 1.8 million in two weeks. And so. But it seems like not much of that was actually true. Certainly it's not going to cost $1.8 million, as you talked about already. But now, after we try to figure out, okay, the people that he hired to do this job, they don't even seem to do pools. They're a company that repairs highway culverts and pipes and fuel tanks. They don't have a pool at all on their website, and they don't do Trump's pool, the pool that he talked about them working on in Northern Virginia, I don't think they've ever worked on it. So who are they? And Trump has now backed off completely from that story, as you said, and said, I don't even know these people. You know, these people that I just said were my pool guy that I found, but no one else could find someone to do this job. I don't even know those people.

[Host (Jen)]

So the guy who we were already concerned that was getting a big job because he was a pool guy is not even a pool guy, which is quite something. There is. And you've been reporting on all of these. We've been using tons of your reporting. Just a series of no bid contracts that are happening, which is not how it's supposed to work in government. Just to state the obvious. How is this happening? Why is this happening? How abnormal is it? I know it's quite abnormal, but for people out there who are just hearing this term over and over again.

[Reporter/Interviewer]

Well, in the law, this is not just a sort of a good practice, it's the law. The law says that federal agencies, when they give out a contract to do anything, you know, buy an airplane to, you know, fix their reflecting pool, you are supposed to seek multiple bidders. And that's not just some good government goo goo sort of thing. That's capital capitalism. Right. You want to be able to find the person who can do the best work for the lowest price. And how do you do that? You have multiple people compete for the job. What they're doing in these cases is the Trump administration is saying, we're not going to do that. We're going to just give the job directly to one person. And usually it's somebody that has a connection to Trump. And they said, in this case, well, there's no time to seek multiple bidders because, you know, we're so close to the 250th. This is a matter of serious urgency. We can't have a bidder bid. They used a provision in the law that's really meant for wartime or natural disasters. That kind of real urgency. This urgency was just like, hey, we want to do this thing and we're way behind schedule. So the fault here, the danger here is the danger to Trump in that he might have found somebody who can't do the job or can't do the job that well. And if he'd gone to open bidding, he might have found somebody better who had a better idea.

[Host (Jen)]

Lots of dangers embroiled in here. Thank you for knowing so much about no bid contracts and for following all of this. And thanks for being here with us tonight. Really appreciate it.

[Donald Trump (Interview Clips)]

Thank you.

[Host (Jen)]

Okay, we've got to take a quick break, but the last word is former Labor Secretary Robert Reich standing by. And we'll be right back. That's going to do it for me tonight. And for this week.

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[Host (Jen)]

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