Rep. Sara Jacobs Grills Secretary Marco Rubio on President Trump’s Conflicts of Interest in UAE while Ignoring UAE’s Funding of Genocide in Sudan
Rep. Sara Jacobs (CA-51) grilled Secretary Marco Rubio on President Trump’s conflicts of interest in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In recent weeks, the Trump Organization has announced plans to build an 80-story Trump Tower in Dubai, and President Trump’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, has secured a $2 billion deal with an Emirati company with deep ties to the government. Then the Trump Administration blew through a congressional hold on over $1.5 billion in arms sales to the UAE, which continues to arm and fund the Rapid Support Forces’ genocide in Sudan.
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Mr. Secretary, I want to turn to the war in Sudan. This is, as you know, the world’s largest displacement and humanitarian crisis, half a million people are facing famine. I saw firsthand the suffering when I visited Sudanese refugees in Chad.
“Earlier this year and again yesterday, you reiterated that the Rapid Support Forces, a militia, is committing genocide in Sudan. Is that correct?”
Secretary Marco Rubio said: “We’re very concerned about what both sides are doing frankly, but the RSF in particular.”
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Correct, I agree with that. You also said that, as part of that, all of our engagement with the UAE, we need to ‘raise the fact that they’re openly supporting an entity that is carrying out a genocide.’ And yet, President Trump continues to arm the UAE. In fact, he just blew through Ranking Member Meeks’ congressional hold on over $1 billion in arms sales, ignoring this Committee’s longstanding role as an independent check on major arms sales. Now, we can have a policy debate on the merits of whether to arm the UAE or not, despite this genocide. I had that conversation with Secretary Blinken. But actually, I want to talk about the events that led up to that decision.
“So on April 30th, the Trump Organization, which Donald Trump still owns, unveiled plans to build an 80-story Trump Tower in Dubai.
“On May 1, Trump’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, secured a $2 billion deal with an Emirati company with deep ties to the government.
“And only 11 days later, on May 12, your Department notified our committee that it would ignore Ranking Member Meeks’ holds on UAE arms sales.
“Secretary Rubio, we have a President who is personally profiting from a deal with a foreign government-backed company at the same time he is selling lethal weapons to that same government. Isn’t that a clear conflict of interest?”
Secretary Marco Rubio said: “I think no matter who is president, they would have to deal with the UAE. We have to. They’re a member of…
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “That’s not my question. We can have a policy debate about how we should engage with the UAE. I was just there a few weeks ago.
Secretary Marco Rubio said: “You’re making claims about corruption. I’m trying to answer them. Any President in the United States – I don’t care who it is – has to deal with the UAE. They’re a member of the Abraham Accords, number one. They’ve been incredibly cooperative on a bunch of other issues. We don’t agree with them 100%. We have some concerns about some of the things they do. But this is called the balancing of our foreign policy. It is in our national interest to have a good relationship with the UAE. And sometimes they do things we don’t like.
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Secretary Rubio, I don’t disagree with you. I just visited the UAE a couple weeks ago and had these very same conversations there and I don’t think this is a complicated question. President Trump is personally profiting from a deal with a foreign government and selling weapons to that same government who is enabling a genocide. Policy aside, are you really saying you don’t think this is a conflict of interest?
Secretary Marco Rubio said: “No, you’re making claims. The president’s family owns a business and they can conduct business anywhere in the world they want. The president has never once raised business deals in the UAE when talking about…Any President would have to have a relationship with the UAE.
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Secretary Rubio, that’s just silly. President Trump has retained his ownership of these companies and I have an image right here from World Liberty Financial’s website, so the idea that President Trump is not the face of the brand of this company on top of benefiting from them. And it literally says on the website that Mr. Trump and his family members own a 60% stake in this company. That’s silly. We can talk about the policy merits – that’s not what I’m asking you. I’m asking you a very simple question: do you believe that it’s a conflict of interest to have a president personally profiting from a deal with a foreign government while selling weapons to that same government who is enabling a genocide?
Secretary Marco Rubio said: “I don’t…I don’t accept the premise of your question. I think this has nothing to do with personally benefiting from anything. This has to do with the fact that in order to conduct foreign policy in the Middle East, you’re going to have to deal with the UAE. You have to have deals in place with the UAE.
Rep. Sara Jacobs said: “Mr. Secretary, this is a clear conflict of interest. Anyone with any common sense can see that. The President is personally benefiting from billions of dollars in deals, and he doesn’t care at all about the people of Sudan who are experiencing famine and genocide.
“It’s shocking to me that you can’t admit that. It’s clear to me that you seem more concerned about staying in Trump’s good graces than sticking up for human rights and American values that you once were a champion for. With that, I’m going to yield the rest of my time to Representative Olszewski.”
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