White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shut down any accusations that President Trump would profit from his trip to the Middle East next week.

She called it “ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.”

“He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service not just once, but twice,” she said at Friday’s White House press briefing. “The American public reelected him back to this White House because they trust he acts in the best interest of our country and putting the American public first.”

Mr. Trump will fly to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week to improve relationships between the U.S. and those countries while discussing the Israel-Gaza war and Iran’s nuclear plans.

Reporters asked if his family would be tagging along for the trip or if he would be meeting anyone involved with Trump Organization projects in the area.

The president has a Trump International Golf Club in Dubai, with a planned Trump International Hotel & Tower also in that country. Also on the board are two real estate projects in Saudi Arabia and a golf resort in Qatar.

Ms. Leavitt said he has “lost money” by taking the job as president. Since he took office the first time, he has donated his $400,000 annual salary every quarter to government agencies and charities.

Ms. Leavitt said of possibly profiting from next week’s trip, “That is not what President Trump does, and this White House holds ourselves to the highest of ethical standards.”

While Mr. Trump said during the 2016 campaign that he was worth $11 billion, some reports had it closer to $3 billion and dropping to $2.3 billion by the end of his first term.

Forbes estimated in March that Mr. Trump’s current net worth was $5.1 billion, but that was before his sweeping tariff measures that rocked the economy.

She also bashed the press for not asking similar questions to Mr. Trump’s predecessor “who was clearly profiting off of this office.”

There were investigations into how former President Joe Biden might have profited from his role as vice president and the ties to his son Hunter Biden and foreign business dealings.

Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee scoured bank records that showed millions of dollars sent from foreign sources to Biden family members. Ultimately, they couldn’t prove that Mr. Biden was directly involved in what they thought was an influence-peddling scheme.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.