Trump’s “Nothing” Knows a Lot About World Liberty’s $500 Million UAE Deal

U.S. President Donald Trump said he knows "nothing" about World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture partly owned by his family, while defending the company’s financial ties to the United Arab Emirates. Speaking to columnist Ross Douthat after last week’s midterm elections, Trump was asked why his co-ownership of a company partly owned by investors linked to the UAE government differed from arrangements he would call corrupt if they involved the Biden family.

"Here's the difference [...] I'm gonna tell you why. Because I know nothing about it," Trump said, according to a CBS News transcript. When Douthat asked why Trump did not simply divest, the president said most of his money is managed by Wall Street firms through index funds and that his sons run the family business. "It's hard to say to them, 'Don't do anything anymore for four years because I'm president,'" he said.

Douthat also asked whether foreign investors in World Liberty believe they are buying influence. Trump replied: "I don't know." He said conflicts of interest have dogged presidents "going back to George Washington," adding that past presidents "own something, whatever crypto was at the time." "There's crypto, and before that there was oil," Trump said. "I'm a bigger name than other presidents, whether we like it or not."

World Liberty Financial, announced by Eric Trump in August 2024, issues the WLFI governance token and the USD1 stablecoin. In January, it launched World Liberty Markets, a lending and borrowing platform built on DeFi protocol Dolomite.

Aryam Investment, a UAE-backed entity tied to national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, agreed to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for $500 million four days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, Decrypt reported in February, citing The Wall Street Journal. The deal, signed by Eric Trump on World Liberty’s behalf, reportedly preceded the administration’s reversal of restrictions on advanced AI chip sales to the UAE. A World Liberty spokesperson said at the time that neither Trump nor Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff had "any involvement whatsoever" in the transaction, ABC News reported.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) described the arrangement in February as "potentially criminal conduct" and later warned that those involved in alleged secret payments from a UAE investor could face jail time. Murphy said a UAE investor secretly gave Trump $187 million and his top Middle East envoy $31 million before sensitive defense technology was transferred. Trump has previously said he was not aware of the deal.