Trump, Inc.
195 episodes - English - Latest episode: 7 months ago - ★★★★★ - 5.6K ratingsHe’s the President, yet we’re still trying to answer basic questions about how his business works: What deals are happening, who they’re happening with, and if the President and his family are keeping their promise to separate the Trump Organization from the Trump White House. “Trump, Inc.” is a joint reporting project from WNYC Studios and ProPublica that digs deep into these questions. We’ll be layout out what we know, what we don’t and how you can help us fill in the gaps.
WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts, including On the Media, Radiolab, Death, Sex & Money, Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, Nancy and many others. ProPublica is a non-profit investigative newsroom.
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Episodes
The Family Business
September 18, 2019 16:00 - 34 minutes - 35.4 MBTrump, Inc. takes a step back to make sense of the seemingly endless scandals swirling around the White House. They're not random. They fit a pattern and that has a precedent. It turns out, Trump is running the government a lot like he's run his business: through bluster, boss-ism, and by ignoring the rules.
The Questions Mueller Didn't Ask
July 25, 2019 16:00 - 30 minutes - 31 MBPerhaps you’ve heard: Special counsel Robert Mueller testified on Wednesday. There’s plenty of analysis about who won and who didn’t. We’re skipping that part.
The Questions Mueller Didn't Ask
July 25, 2019 16:00 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBPerhaps you’ve heard: Special counsel Robert Mueller testified on Wednesday. There’s plenty of analysis about who won and who didn’t. We’re skipping that part. Instead, on a special, speedy episode of Trump, Inc. we’re focusing on the few tidbits that were actually revealing and how it came to be that there weren’t more. ProPublica’s Jesse Eisinger and Heather Vogell talk with WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein about the many things we didn’t learn and why. They discuss potential mistakes during the ...
A New Kind of Influencer: Friend of the President’s Kid
July 22, 2019 16:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBOver the past two years, the Trump administration has been grappling with how to handle the transition to the next generation of mobile broadband technology. With spending expected to run into hundreds of billions of dollars, the administration views it as an ultra-high-stakes competition between U.S. and Chinese companies, with enormous implications both for technology and for national security. Top officials from a raft of departments have been meeting to hash out the best approach. But ...
A New Kind of Influencer: Friend of the President’s Kid
July 22, 2019 16:00 - 13 minutes - 15.4 MBTommy Hicks Jr. isn’t in government, but he’s a longtime pal of the president’s son. That has put him in the room when the administration talks China and 5G policy, and it lets him help others — including one friend who had $143 million riding on the outcome.
An Opportunity for the Rich
June 19, 2019 16:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBUnder a six-lane span of freeway leading into downtown Baltimore sits what may be the most valuable parking spaces in America. Lying near a development project controlled by Under Armour’s billionaire CEO Kevin Plank, one of Maryland’s richest men, and Goldman Sachs, the little sliver of land will allow Plank and the other investors to claim what could amount to millions in tax breaks for the project, known as Port Covington. They have President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul law to than...
An Opportunity for the Rich
June 19, 2019 16:00 - 29 minutes - 30.3 MBUnder a six-lane span of freeway leading into downtown Baltimore sits what may be the most valuable parking spaces in America. Lying near a development project controlled by Under Armour’s billionaire CEO Kevin Plank, one of Maryland’s richest men, and Goldman Sachs, the little sliver of land will allow Plank and the other investors to claim what could amount to millions in tax breaks for the project, known as Port Covington. They have President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul law to than...
Pay Day at the Trump Doral
June 05, 2019 16:00 - 34 minutes - 34.9 MBAt the president's resort west of Miami, Payday lenders celebrated the potential death of a rule intended to protect their customers. They couldn’t have done it without him.
Pay Day at the Trump Doral
June 05, 2019 16:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBIn mid-March, the payday lending industry held its annual convention at the Trump National Doral hotel outside Miami. Payday lenders offer loans on the order of a few hundred dollars, typically to low-income borrowers, who have to pay them back in a matter of weeks. The industry has been long been reviled by critics for charging stratospheric interest rates — typically 400% on an annual basis — that leave customers trapped in cycles of debt. The industry had felt under siege during the Obam...
Former FBI Deputy Chief Andrew McCabe and Trump, Inc. Compare Notes
May 29, 2019 16:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBBefore he became infamous for working on the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails and the Trump Russia investigation, former acting FBI chief Andrew McCabe investigated the Russian mob in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. McCabe has been asking some of the questions we at Trump, Inc. have asked ourselves about Trump’s business. So today, we compare notes. In this conversation with Andrea Bernstein and Heather Vogell, of Trump, Inc., McCabe talks about why it makes sense that some of the people...
Former FBI Deputy Chief Andrew McCabe and Trump, Inc. Compare Notes
May 29, 2019 16:00 - 30 minutes - 30.5 MBMcCabe talks about going after Russian organized crime in Brighton Beach as a young agent — and how some of those characters showed up in the Mueller report.
Trump and Deutsche Bank: It’s Complicated
May 22, 2019 16:00 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBWhispers of money laundering have swirled around Donald Trump’s businesses for years. One of his casinos, for example, was fined $10 million for not trying hard enough to prevent such machinations. Investors with shady financial histories sometimes popped up in his foreign ventures. And on Sunday, The New York Times reported that anti-money-laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank internally flagged multiple transactions by Trump companies as suspicious. (A spokesperson for the Trump Organiza...
Trump and Deutsche Bank: It’s Complicated
May 22, 2019 16:00 - 41 minutes - 40.7 MBWhispers of money laundering have swirled around Donald Trump’s businesses for years. One of his casinos, for example, was fined $10 million for not trying hard enough to prevent such machinations. Investors with shady financial histories sometimes popped up in his foreign ventures. And on Sunday, The New York Times reported that anti-money-laundering specialists at Deutsche Bank internally flagged multiple transactions by Trump companies as suspicious. (A spokesperson for the Trump Organiza...
What We’ve Learned From Trump’s Tax Transcripts
May 10, 2019 16:00 - 13 minutes - 15.5 MBA look at Trump’s tax data from his early years gives us a road map of what his current forms might tell us.
What We’ve Learned From Trump’s Tax Transcripts
May 10, 2019 16:00 - 13 minutes - 12.4 MBPresident Donald Trump has refused to release his tax returns. He has sued his former accountants and Deutsche Bank to keep them from releasing his returns after they were subpoenaed to do so. And his treasury secretary has refused to provide the returns to Congress. But bit by bit, The New York Times’ Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner have been gathering returns and tax data from Trump’s earlier years. In the latest installment, they show how Trump claimed over a billion dollars in business ...
The Government's Bar Tab at Mar-a-Lago
May 01, 2019 16:00 - 36 minutes - 36.1 MBSpending taxpayer money at Mar-a-Lago is a such a "headache," the State Department got a special credit card for visits to the president's private club. This week, the intersection of money, presidential access and security, and the push and pull between government spending and private profits at Mar-a-Lago.
The Government's Bar Tab at Mar-a-Lago
May 01, 2019 16:00 - 36 minutes - 33 MBFind “Trump, Inc.” wherever you get your podcasts. This week’s episode examines the intersection of money, presidential access and security, and the push and pull between government spending and private profits at Mar-a-Lago. In April 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate and club, for a two-day summit. While Xi and his delegation stayed at a nearby hotel, Trump and his advisers stayed at the peach-colored, waterfront re...
'Harm to Ongoing Matter'
April 19, 2019 16:00 - 34 minutes - 34.7 MBOn Thursday, the “Trump, Inc.” team gathered with laptops, pizza and Post-its to disconnect — and to read special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. What we found was page after page of jaw-dropping details about the inner workings of the administration of President Donald Trump, meetings with foreign officials and plots to affect our elections. But we also found rich details on how Trump ran his business dealings in Russia, itself the subject of our recent episode on his Moscow business part...
'Harm to Ongoing Matter'
April 19, 2019 16:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBOn Thursday, the “Trump, Inc.” team gathered with laptops, pizza and Post-its to disconnect — and to read special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. What we found was page after page of jaw-dropping details about the inner workings of the administration of President Donald Trump, meetings with foreign officials and plots to affect our elections. But we also found rich details on how Trump ran his business dealings in Russia, itself the subject of our recent episode on his Moscow business part...
Trump, Inc. Goes Beyond Collusion
March 25, 2019 16:00 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBIn this Trump, Inc. podcast extra, we talk about what we know, what we don’t know and what we still want to know after Attorney General William Barr gave his summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Trump, Inc co-hosts Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz joined Maya Wiley, professor at the New School and MSNBC Legal Analyst on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show to review the on-going investigations. Collusion was never the only thing. For the last year and a half, we have been looking at th...
Trump, Inc. Goes Beyond Collusion
March 25, 2019 16:00 - 36 minutes - 36.5 MBIn this Trump, Inc. podcast extra, we talk about what we know, what we don’t know and what we still want to know after Attorney General William Barr gave his summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Trump, Inc co-hosts Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz joined Maya Wiley, professor at the New School and MSNBC Legal Analyst on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show to review the on-going investigations. Collusion was never the only thing. For the last year and a half, we have been looking at th...
Trump’s Moscow Tower Problem
March 21, 2019 16:00 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBThis week, we’re exploring President Donald Trump’s efforts to do business in Moscow. Our team — Heather Vogell, Andrea Bernstein, Meg Cramer and Katie Zavadski — dug into just who Trump was working with and just what Trump needed from Russia to get a deal done. (Listen to the podcast episode here.) First, the big picture. We already knew that Trump had business interests involving Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign — which he denied — that could have been influencing his policy p...
Trump’s Moscow Tower Problem
March 21, 2019 16:00 - 38 minutes - 38.7 MBThis week, we’re exploring President Donald Trump’s efforts to do business in Moscow. Our team — Heather Vogell, Andrea Bernstein, Meg Cramer and Katie Zavadski — dug into just who Trump was working with and just what Trump needed from Russia to get a deal done. (Listen to the podcast episode here.) First, the big picture. We already knew that Trump had business interests involving Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign — which he denied — that could have been influencing his policy p...
Six Tips for Preparing for the Mueller Report, Which May or May Not Be Coming
March 05, 2019 17:00 - 16 minutes - 15 MBBeing investigative journalists means we’re constantly asking questions. But these days, it also means people are asking us questions. One we hear a lot nowadays: “When is the Mueller report coming — and what will it say?” Our answer: We don’t know. But we’ve realized that perhaps we can be more helpful than that. We don’t have insider information on special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. (Sorry!) But we have spent lots of time investigating the president and his businesses. And we thoug...
Six Tips for Preparing for the Mueller Report, Which May or May Not Be Coming
March 05, 2019 17:00 - 16 minutes - 18 MBBeing investigative journalists means we’re constantly asking questions. But these days, it also means people are asking us questions. One we hear a lot nowadays: “When is the Mueller report coming — and what will it say?” Our answer: We don’t know. But we’ve realized that perhaps we can be more helpful than that. We don’t have insider information on special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. (Sorry!) But we have spent lots of time investigating the president and his businesses. And we thoug...
What We’ve Learned From Michael Cohen
February 28, 2019 17:00 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBFor a year now, Trump, Inc. has been digging into the president’s business. We’ve reached out repeatedly to the Trump Organization with questions. Mostly, we haven’t gotten answers. Yesterday was different. Michael Cohen worked for a decade as the president’s in-house attorney and fixer. In his testimony before the House Oversight Committee, he offered a detailed, insider account of alleged fraud, secrecy and cover-ups. In many cases, what he described connected to the very stories we’...
What We’ve Learned From Michael Cohen
February 28, 2019 17:00 - 33 minutes - 33.8 MBFor a year now, Trump, Inc. has been digging into the president’s business. We’ve reached out repeatedly to the Trump Organization with questions. Mostly, we haven’t gotten answers. Yesterday was different. Michael Cohen worked for a decade as the president’s in-house attorney and fixer. In his testimony before the House Oversight Committee, he offered a detailed, insider account of alleged fraud, secrecy and cover-ups. In many cases, what he described connected to the very stories we’...
How a Nigerian Presidential Candidate Hired a Trump Lobbyist and Ended Up in Trump’s Lobby
February 27, 2019 17:00 - 31 minutes - 31.4 MBWe spent a night at President Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C. — and we met lots of interesting people.
How a Nigerian Presidential Candidate Hired a Trump Lobbyist and Ended Up in Trump’s Lobby
February 27, 2019 17:00 - 30 minutes - 28.4 MBThis week, Trump, Inc. goes inside the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Located in the Old Post Office, the hotel is at the center of three lawsuits alleging President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause barring the president from taking gifts from foreign governments. We stayed the night. Among the many prominent guests we saw: Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and his entourage. Nigeria’s elections were last weekend, and Abubakar was...
Who Was Behind the Plan to Give Saudi Arabia Nuclear Power, and What Was Their Agenda?
February 22, 2019 17:00 - 9 minutes - 11.4 MBWe talk with the ProPublica reporter who helped uncover the Trump administration’s plan to bring nuclear technology to the Saudis.
Who Was Behind the Plan to Give Saudi Arabia Nuclear Power, and What Was Their Agenda?
February 22, 2019 17:00 - 9 minutes - 8.36 MBFor a year, “Trump, Inc.” has been digging into the 2017 inauguration. That reporting led us to look closely at the man Donald Trump picked to run the event, Tom Barrack, a wealthy businessman who’s been friends with Trump for decades. As we were finishing our Barrack episode — just out this week — the House Oversight Committee released a report detailing how the Trump administration pursued a plan to export nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia. The plan had been championed by then-nationa...
Trump Inauguration Chief Tom Barrack’s ‘Rules for Success’
February 20, 2019 17:00 - 30 minutes - 30.9 MBLast year, our Trump, Inc. podcast with WNYC explored the mystery of how Donald Trump’s inaugural managed to raise and spend $107 million. A lot has happened since then. We now know the inaugural committee is the subject of a wide-ranging criminal investigation. And we at Trump, Inc. broke the news that some of the inaugural money went to Trump’s own business – and that Ivanka Trump played a role in the negotiations. That could violate tax law. (A spokesman for Ivanka said she simply wante...
Trump Inauguration Chief Tom Barrack’s ‘Rules for Success’
February 20, 2019 17:00 - 30 minutes - 27.9 MBLast year, our Trump, Inc. podcast with WNYC explored the mystery of how Donald Trump’s inaugural managed to raise and spend $107 million. A lot has happened since then. We now know the inaugural committee is the subject of a wide-ranging criminal investigation. And we at Trump, Inc. broke the news that some of the inaugural money went to Trump’s own business – and that Ivanka Trump played a role in the negotiations. That could violate tax law. (A spokesman for Ivanka said she simply wante...
What We Now Know About Manafort, Cohen and ‘Individual-1’
December 12, 2018 17:00 - 25 minutes - 26 MBCourt filings by prosecutors last week shined a light on the business lives of two men who worked get Donald Trump elected president: former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Trump, Inc co-hosts Ilya Marritz and Andrea Bernstein talk with Franklin Foer of The Atlantic about what the documents show -- and the further questions they raise. Among those questions:- What exactly was Manafort’s connection to a business partner who some in th...
What We Now Know About Manafort, Cohen and ‘Individual-1’
December 12, 2018 17:00 - 25 minutes - 22.9 MBCourt filings by prosecutors last week shined a light on the business lives of two men who worked get Donald Trump elected president: former Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Trump, Inc co-hosts Ilya Marritz and Andrea Bernstein talk with Franklin Foer of The Atlantic about what the documents show -- and the further questions they raise. Among those questions: - What exactly was Manafort’s connection to a business partner who some in t...
Trump Jr. Invested in a Hydroponic Lettuce Company
December 04, 2018 17:00 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBDonald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, took a stake last year in a startup whose co-chairman is a major Trump campaign fundraiser who has sought financial support from the federal government for his other business interests, according to records obtained by ProPublica. The fundraiser, Texas money manager Gentry Beach, and Trump Jr. attended college together, are godfather to one of each other’s sons and have collaborated on investments — and on the Trump presidential campaign. Since ...
Trump Jr. Invested in a Hydroponic Lettuce Company
December 04, 2018 17:00 - 19 minutes - 20.8 MBDonald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, took a stake last year in a startup whose co-chairman is a major Trump campaign fundraiser who has sought financial support from the federal government for his other business interests, according to records obtained by ProPublica. The fundraiser, Texas money manager Gentry Beach, and Trump Jr. attended college together, are godfather to one of each other’s sons and have collaborated on investments — and on the Trump presidential campaign. Since ...
The Emolument Suit Against Trump That Is Moving Ahead
November 14, 2018 17:00 - 18 minutes - 16.6 MBThere’s lots of talk about congressional investigations of the Trump administration that may be coming. Meanwhile, there is already a push to pull back the veil on the president’s conflicts. And it’s making progress. This month, a federal judge ruled that Maryland and Washington, D.C., can move ahead with a lawsuit claiming the president has violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bars presidents from accepting payments from foreign and state governments without congressional a...
The Emolument Suit Against Trump That Is Moving Ahead
November 14, 2018 17:00 - 18 minutes - 19.6 MBThere’s lots of talk about congressional investigations of the Trump administration that may be coming. Meanwhile, there is already a push to pull back the veil on the president’s conflicts. And it’s making progress. This month, a federal judge ruled that Maryland and Washington, D.C., can move ahead with a lawsuit claiming the president has violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bars presidents from accepting payments from foreign and state governments without congressional a...
So What Trump Investigations Could Be Coming?
November 08, 2018 17:00 - 37 minutes - 37 MBWe talk with The New Yorker’s Adam Davidson, The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold, and McClatchy’s Anita Kumar about the midterms and future investigations by Democrats.
So What Trump Investigations Could Be Coming?
November 08, 2018 17:00 - 37 minutes - 34 MBFor two years, journalists have operated in an environment where Congress has declined to inquire into key issues surrounding President Trump’s family business: Is he profiting from his presidency? Are his friends, family, and appointees? Is Trump violating the Constitution when members of foreign governments make payments to his company by staying at his properties? Now, with Democrats taking control of the House of Representatives after this week’s midterm elections, that will change. A...
Rudy, Inc.
October 31, 2018 16:00 - 36 minutes - 36.7 MBWe spent weeks investigating his work and clients in the former Soviet Union.
Rudy, Inc.
October 31, 2018 16:00 - 36 minutes - 33.6 MBRudy Giuliani has had many identities in his time on the public stage. A crusading federal prosecutor who struck terror in mobsters and Wall Street titans alike. A sometimes cantankerous New York City mayor who became a national hero for his stirring leadership after the 9/11 attacks. And, currently, President Donald Trump’s unpaid attorney in the Russia collusion investigation being led by Robert Mueller. In this week’s episode of Trump, Inc., we’re digging into a part of Giuliani's work th...
Trump and Taxes: The Art of the Dodge
October 24, 2018 16:00 - 30 minutes - 30.7 MBDonald Trump has multiple different ways of playing the game when it comes to taxes — and he always seems to come out the winner.
Trump and Taxes: The Art of the Dodge
October 24, 2018 16:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBFrom the moment during the presidential campaign that Donald Trump broke decades of precedent and declined to release his personal tax returns, the issue of Trump and the taxes he has paid (or not paid) has been the subject of widespread fascination, scrutiny and not a little controversy. That scrutiny ratcheted up significantly in recent weeks with two substantial media investigations of the tax-paying practices of Trump’s family and those of Trump in-law and White House official Jared Kush...
Trump’s Tangled Relationship With Saudi Arabia
October 19, 2018 16:00 - 13 minutes - 12.6 MBThe disappearance of Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi Consulate has brought renewed attention to what’s been true for years: The United States — and its president — has an important, and extremely complicated, relationship with Saudi Arabia. Trump has been doing business with Saudis for years, even bragging during his presidential campaign about the large amount of money Saudi buyers paid for his apartments. "Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartm...
Trump’s Tangled Relationship With Saudi Arabia
October 19, 2018 16:00 - 13 minutes - 15.6 MBIn the wake of the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, we discuss President Donald Trump’s business interests in the kingdom.
Pump and Trump
October 17, 2018 16:00 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MB(With Andrea Bernstein and Meg Cramer, WNYC, and Peter Elkind, ProPublica) Since Donald Trump’s fortunes came surging back with the success of “The Apprentice” 14 years ago, his deals have often been scrutinized for the large number of his partners who have ventured to the very edges of the law, and sometimes beyond. Those associates have included accused money launderers, alleged funders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and a felon who slashed someone in the face with a broken margarita glass...
Pump and Trump
October 17, 2018 16:00 - 36 minutes - 36.9 MBDonald Trump claims he only licensed his name for projects developed by others. Our investigation finds his family had deeper involvement and the deals often had misleading practices.
Trump’s Patron-in-Chief: Sheldon Adelson
October 10, 2018 16:00 - 27 minutes - 28.6 MBLate on a Thursday evening in February 2017, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland for his first visit with President Donald Trump. A few hours earlier, the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson’s Boeing 737, which is so large it can seat 149 people, touched down at Reagan National Airport after a flight from Las Vegas. Adelson dined that night at the White House with Trump, Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Adelson and his wife, ...