Donald Trump‘s ties to Saudi Arabia are coming into light via a piece published on Labor Day. The New York Daily News is reporting that Trump has made millions of dollars from Saudi Arabia nationals including members of the Bin Laden family.
The Republican Party nominee for president of the United States, who has called out Hillary and Bill Clinton on many occasions for taking donations from Saudi Arabians at the Clinton Foundation, sold an entire floor of Trump World Tower to the Arab state.
According to the news organization, in 2001, the GOP nominee sold the 45th floor of Trump World Tower to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the hefty sum of $4.5 million. In 2008, the luxury apartments were transferred to the Saudi Mission to the United Nations. Records showed that Mr. Trump is receiving $85,585 every year from the foreign nation for building amenities. A city Finance Department spokeswoman said:
“The five apartments included 10 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms at the time of the sale, and had yearly common charges of $85,585 for building amenities, documents obtained by The News show. If those common charges remain the same, Trump was paid at least $5.7 million by the Saudi government since 2001.”
The portion of the investigation that some viewed as controversial is the fact that Mr. Trump sold an apartment to Shafiq Bin Laden, the half-brother of Osama Bin Laden, the founder of al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the September 11 attacks. Shafiq Bin Laden purchased the apartment located in the Trump Tower in 1986. Legal documents showed that Bin Laden paid an $8,500 security deposit for the apartment. Bin Laden lived in the apartment for only four months in 1986.
In a recent interview with FOX News’ Sean Hannity, Trump was asked if he ever received money from Saudi Arabia, he replied by saying no. However, in 2015, at a rally in Mobile, Alabama, Trump said the opposite:
“Saudi Arabia — and I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.”
The mogul has often criticized Clinton for taking over $25 million from Saudi Arabia for the Clinton Foundation. Trump stated in a June Facebook post:
“Crooked Hillary says we must call on Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop funding hate. I am calling on her to immediately return the $25 million plus she got from them for the Clinton Foundation!”
It will be interesting to see if this story will become a political problem for the media sensation.
