Democrats Target Trump Ties

Democrats who won House control in recent midterm elections will launch investigations into alleged corruption in the Trump administration when they take office in January. Senior party officials said the new majority intends to use its oversight powers aggressively to examine financial and political connections between the Trump family and wealthy Middle Eastern nations.

Financial disclosures filed by President Trump in mid-2026 show his businesses earned about two billion dollars in 2025. This amount tripled the income reported for the prior year. Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, stated that Gulf entities paid around three hundred million dollars to these businesses in 2025, more than any other region.

A large share of this revenue came from World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded in 2024 by the Trump and Witkoff families. Steve Witkoff serves as the president’s special envoy to the Middle East. In January 2026, shortly before the inauguration, the company sold a large stake to an investment firm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security advisor. Critics link this transaction to a May 2026 US agreement granting the UAE access to advanced artificial intelligence chips.

Scrutiny also extends to real estate ventures. Gulf developers have agreed to build Trump-branded properties in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and the Maldives. CNBC reported in August 2026 that Trump earned fifty-nine point five million dollars from foreign real estate licensing in 2025, ten times the 2023 amount. Nearly two-thirds of this income came from Gulf projects, according to ethics watchdogs.

The Qatari royal family gifted a luxury jet to Trump in May 2025. Valued at approximately four hundred million dollars, the aircraft is under review. Trump plans to donate the plane to his Florida-based presidential library foundation. Senator Elizabeth Warren said the library’s collection of over one hundred million dollars in donations warrants investigation.

The Board of Peace, created in September 2025 to manage Gaza reconstruction, also faces questions. The Financial Times reported that the World Bank account for the board was empty four months after its creation, with funds deposited into a private JP Morgan account instead. Zaha Hassan of the Carnegie Endowment warned that changing the board’s legal status to an international non-governmental organization may help it avoid congressional oversight.

Robert Garcia, the senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, identified the Trump family as a top priority. He expressed specific concerns about Jared Kushner, who acts as a volunteer envoy in the Middle East. A book published in late October alleges Kushner worked with the UAE to shape US policy and accessed bank accounts containing roughly two billion dollars. Kushner has denied these claims and threatened legal action.