In just six months back in office, Donald Trump's company the Trump Organization has rolled out 12 new international business projects — surpassing the total from Trump's entire first term. And with each new deal, the same question grows louder: Where does President Trump's public duty end, and where does his private empire begin?

Back in 2017, Donald Trump publicly called Qatar "a funder of terrorism." Fast-forward to 2025, and the first foreign deal secured by the Trump Organization after Trump's return to the Oval Office is happening in Qatar itself.

The project, just outside Doha, will feature a luxury resort and an 18-hole golf course, branded as the Trump International Golf Club & Villas.

On paper, the development is being carried out by real estate developers Qatari Diar and the Saudi company Dar Global. But Qatari Diar is no ordinary private company — it was set up by Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and is chaired by a government minister, effectively making it an arm of the Qatari state.

Just weeks before President Trump's scheduled visit to Qatar in May 2025, Eric Trump traveled there to help advance the negotiations.

The Trump Organization has maintained that the partnership was secured through Dar Global, a Saudi firm, and not directly with Qatari Diar. But that explanation hardly puts the questions to rest, since Dar Global itself has close and well-documented ties to the Saudi royal family.

Meanwhile, Trump's May trip brought another issue: The Qatari government offered the United States a customized Boeing 747, a so-called "flying palace" worth around $400 million, as a diplomatic gift.

Beyond these business entanglements, the US relationship........

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