Trump crypto, Trump ballroom and Trump drones

0:01Carden Hedlund:NPR.

0:11This is The Indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong.

0:14Carden Hedlund:And I'm Darian Woods. And I'm Adrienne Ma. It's not even Friday, but we're all here. And that's because every day there is like this fire hose of news. So we're homing in on a few stories we think deserve closer scrutiny. The New York Times just picked up a Pulitzer this week for its coverage of President Trump's conflicts of interest. So today, for us, we'll talk about a few stories on this very topic. Some explore Trump's financial moves that favor his friends and family. Like a Trump-linked drone company that just struck a deal with the Pentagon. We'll also talk about the legal spat between crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and World Liberty Financial.

0:52Carden Hedlund:That's the crypto company that was co-founded by the Trump family. And we'll also cover the prominence of the steal for the new White House ballroom. I won't exclaim, stop the steal. Ah, you just did. But anyway, you can't stop it. It's already here. I will tell you about it after the break.

1:12Carden Hedlund:Support for NPR and the following message come from Edward Jones. What does it mean to live a rich life? It means brave first leaps, tearful goodbyes, and everything in between. With over 100 years of experience navigating the ups and downs of the market and of life, your Edward Jones Financial Advisor will be there to help you move ahead with confidence. Because with all you've done to find your rich, they'll do all they can to help you keep enjoying it. Edward Jones, member SIPC. This message comes from KeyBank. Every successful business evolves. And to keep up, you need a bank relationship that evolves with you.

1:50Carden Hedlund:When you collaborate with KeyBank, you don't get one-size-fits-all solutions. Their expansive team of experts across industry verticals is always ready with bespoke solutions for your biggest challenges and opportunities. They know all businesses are different, and that's why they approach business differently. Reimagine business as usual. KeyBank opens doors. Learn more at key.com slash b2b. This message comes from Capella University. You know that feeling when there's a spark building inside you, that you were meant for more? That's your own drive pushing you towards what's next. Capella University gets that.

2:30Carden Hedlund:With their FlexPath learning format, you can set the pace and earn your degree without putting life on pause. You've built experience and know what you're capable of. Now, this is your time to turn that momentum into more. The only real question is, what can't you do? Learn more at capella.edu. Three business deals related to the president, Donald Trump. Darian Woods, kick us off. So I want to talk about the Trump family's crypto venture, and specifically a legal fight that's been growing between World Liberty Financial and Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. Justin Sun runs the crypto network Tron, which is popular among criminals looking to move money around.

3:14Carden Hedlund:According to a blockchain research company, TRM Labs, more than half of illegal crypto activity in 2024 was going through Tron. You know, customer is a customer. So what is the latest with the connection to the Trump family's crypto venture? Yeah, so Justin spent at least$100 million on Trump's meme coin, Trump. And he invested heavily in World Liberty Financial, which is, you know, the crypto app tied to the Trump family. A bit of background here is that earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission settled its fraud lawsuit against Justin with only a$10 million civil penalty and without any admission of wrongdoing.

3:55Oh, only$10 million. That must have been a relief.

3:59Carden Hedlund:Well, briefly before he has now found himself in a new legal spat. Yeah, so what's up with that? It seems like they were becoming friendly. From friends to frenemies to legal enemies. So Justin Sund claims that World Liberty Financial blacklisted him from selling his tokens that he bought for$45 million. These tokens are supposed to give you some say in the company's governance. But Justin claims that World Liberty Financial threatened to permanently delete his tokens and report them to U.S. authorities over not providing adequate documentation over his token purchases. And also Justin says the company pressured him to pour in more money.

4:40Carden Hedlund:In April, he sued the company for fraud. Okay, this is, I mean, I'm like Marie Kondo. I love mess. This is almost too much mess for me to follow. Yeah, and World Liberty Financial denies these claims. And on Monday, it sued Justin Sun back. The company alleges that Justin Sun was buying World Liberty Financial tokens on behalf of other investors, and he may have engaged in short selling, in other words, betting on the price of these tokens to go down, which it says is a breach of its terms. World Liberty Financial claims that it froze Justin's tokens to protect the company and its users, or community as they say.

5:17Carden Hedlund:And it's alleging that Justin's tweets amount to defamation. Justin probably longs for the days when he was just best known for buying that banana at Art Basel. Yes, he is famous for that. Simpler times, simpler times. There's money in the duct taped banana, as they say. Okay, thank you, Darian, for sharing the Trump family crypto drama. Uh, Waylon, what do you got? I would like to talk about one of the president's pet construction projects, the White House Ballroom. Oh, yes. Now, the president, yes, the president has said the ballroom could cost$400 million, which is double the White House's initial estimate, by the way.

5:57Carden Hedlund:And we just heard that it won't just be donors, but taxpayers may have to foot a billion dollars for security costs. Right. Either way, last year, the White House released a list of nearly 40 donors. Remind us. Who's on that list again? Yeah, definitely some companies you've heard of. You've got Google, Amazon, Lockheed Martin. But the company I'm going to tell you about was not on that initial list from the White House. In fact, this company only confirmed last week that it's involved with the ballroom at all. This company is called ArcelorMittal. It's headquartered in Luxembourg, and it's the world's second largest steel producer.

6:32Carden Hedlund:And so how much money did it donate? Oh, well, what makes the story interesting is that it was not a monetary donation. Ursula Mittal is donating steel. And here's what company CFO Genuino Cristino said last week in an earnings call. We are contributing steel to the White House ballroom. So approximately 600 tons have been delivered to date. So wait a second. What about U.S. steel, like American-made steel? Yeah, the administration has a golden share in U.S. steel. What happened to that? Yeah, the president said last year that a steel company had approached him about this donation. He said it was worth$37 million.

7:13And he said this steel was, quote, great steel as opposed to garbage steel because they dump a lot of garbage around.

7:20Carden Hedlund:It was a steel of a steel, he said. It was a steel of a steel. So what's in it for ArcelorMittal? There's no obvious quid pro quo from what I can see. The Commerce Department does have the ability to lower tariffs on other steel that the company exports to the U.S., but that hasn't happened as of this recording. I will keep my steely eyes on this story. Darian, you are so punny today. You're normally not this punny. I like it, though. Keep it going. And for now, Adrian, you've been keeping an eagle eye on a drone deal. Tell us about that. That's right. I am going to talk about how some members of the Trump family have positioned themselves to potentially profit from the U.S.

8:02Carden Hedlund:war with Iran. So, for context here, since the start of the war, Iran has attacked neighboring countries by launching thousands of attack drones at them. We actually talked about this in a previous episode. And one way those countries are trying to defend themselves is by using what are called interceptor drones. Basically, they work by homing in on attack drones mid-flight and blowing them up. And as you can imagine, interceptor drones are in huge demand right now in that part of the world. Enter a company from Florida called Power Us. And they make interceptor drones. And guess who two of its main backers are?

8:41Carden Hedlund:They are Donald Trump's sons, Eric and Don Jr. I've heard about this. So give us the details. So this started back in March, just over a week after the U.S. went to war with Iran. Power Us announced that Eric and Don Jr. would be investing in the company and also helping to take it public. As the Wall Street Journal reported at the time, this would be done through something called a reverse merger. Basically, Power Us would merge with a publicly traded company, which is also backed by the Trumps. And this one is called Arius Greenway. And I bet you'll never guess what Arius Greenway's main business is.

9:17AI.

9:18Carden Hedlund:That's actually a safe guess in today's world. But it's actually operating golf country clubs. So a country club company is merging with an interceptor drone company and both companies are backed by the Trump sons. Makes perfect sense, right? Oh, sure. Yeah. Synergies abound. And there is one more leg to this story. On April 30th, Power Us announced that it had scored a major contract with the Pentagon to sell them an undisclosed number of interceptor drones. Wait, so that first announcement you talked about where it's like, oh, Eric and Don Jr. are investing in us. That was March. And then in April, they announced this contract with the Pentagon.

9:58Carden Hedlund:That's right. OK, well, life comes at you fast. And all this raises some obvious questions, right? Like, how did Eric and Don Jr. zero in on this company to begin with? and did their relation to the president influence this deal? Now, there are a growing number of U.S. companies making interceptor drones, but according to Bloomberg News, the president of Power Us says, look, we got the contract on the merits, and Eric and Don Jr. have basically said, hey, we're private businessmen. Still, this deal will probably draw some scrutiny, probably from Democrats who have actually been looking for information about Defense Department dealings with contractors that have ties to the Trumps.

10:38We reached out to the White House for comment on these stories. Spokesperson Anna Kelly said President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public and, quote, there are no conflicts of interest.

10:50Carden Hedlund:This episode was produced by Julia Ritchie with engineering by Robert Rodriguez. It was fact-checked by Sarah Juarez. Kate Ginkannon edits the show and The Indicator is a production of NPR.

11:04Carden Hedlund:This message comes from KeyBank. Scaling a successful business takes more than just grit. It takes the right relationship. KeyBank pairs the right strategy with the right financial tools to keep your business moving forward. KeyBank opens doors. More at key.com slash b2b. Support for this podcast and the following message come from Rivian, makers of the all-electric three-row R1S SUV and the always capable R1T pickup, designed with the planet and future generations in mind. Learn more or schedule a demo drive at Rivian.com.