The Trump Organization is looking to resume negotiations for new hotel properties in Israel, raising possible ethical concerns as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seeks a second term in the White House, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
According to the report, Eric Trump, the former US president’s son who runs the family business, sought to open hotels in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, pursuing the projects well after his father was already a candidate in the upcoming American election.
Two Florida businessmen, who the US newspaper described as past political supporters of Trump, were looking to partner with the Trump Organization to lease two hotels owned by Israeli real estate company Nitsba Group, which would license the Trump name and manage the hotels.
The developers had their eyes on the Haleom Hotel, a Jerusalem development that has been in construction for years, and on the Sarona Hotel in Tel Aviv. Eric Trump also reportedly toured the famous Princess Hotel in Eilat, but passed on the property.
A deal with Nitsba was almost finalized, but talks were suspended last year in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel, which started the ongoing war, those involved told the Times.
“The deal absolutely would have gotten done if not for Oct. 7,” Eric Trump said. He explained that finalizing the deal as the war broke out “would have seemed trivial and tone-deaf in light of the horrific things that the country and region were experiencing,” but said the company would “definitely” close on the deal once the war is over.
According to the report, however, the talks came to a halt weeks before the Hamas attack, due to ethical concerns regarding Trump’s presidential campaign.
Lockwood, the real estate firm of the Florida businessmen, confirmed to the Times that the negotiations were canceled due to “an ethical issue that had to do with Donald J. Trump as he was getting closer to being considered the Republican nominee.”
In August, however, Lockwood reached out to a Nitsba executive, saying Eric Trump wants to resume talks “when the timing becomes right.”
The company has also pursued other deals amid Trump’s presidential campaign, the Times noted, including plans for towers in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and a hotel and golf project in Vietnam.
It’s unclear what ethics guidelines Trump intends to commit to if he is elected again next month. During his first term, the billionaire put a stop to international deals, hired an ethics adviser and paid the US Treasury annual compensation for profits from foreign officials who stayed at Trump hotels, the Times report noted.
At the same time, then-president Trump was also accused of not doing enough to sever his business connections, including by some who invoked the US Constitution’s Emoluments Clause forbidding gifts from foreign governments.
“The first time we did everything imaginable to avoid any appearance of impropriety, and frankly, we got crushed anyway,” Eric Trump said.
This time, he said, “We can’t just sit out in perpetuity, and I won’t.”