President Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, has announced plans to sue MS NOW over a report questioning his presence in China during his father’s state visit.
Eric, the executive vice president of luxury real estate company the Trump Organization, defended himself, saying that he was in Beijing with Trump “as a loving son who adores my father and wouldn’t miss being by his side for this incredible moment.”
Eric’s threats of a lawsuit against MS NOW and one of its show hosts, Jen Psaki, followed a segment scrutinizing the motives of the president’s son during his trip to China this week.
“It certainly seems like Eric might be getting a little more than just some quality time with his dad out of his China trip. Doesn’t it?” Psaki asked her viewers on The Briefing.
The segment from Psaki was based on a Financial Times report published on Wednesday, tying Eric’s visit to a potential business venture.
Eric was making the trip as the fintech company Alt5 Sigma, which he allegedly has ties to, signed a “memorandum of understanding” with China-based Nano Labs last month to build data centers in the U.S., according to the Financial Times.
The White House insisted to the Financial Times that “there are no conflicts of interest” with Eric’s presence on the China trip.
When reached for comment, the White House directed The Independent to an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, where Eric’s wife, Lara, said Trump warned the family before running for office in 2016 that people would “come after” them.
“They’re going to come after all of us,” Lara recalled Trump saying.
The Independent has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment.
In the MS NOW segment, Psaki, a former White House press secretary under Joe Biden, claimed Eric was on Alt5 Sigma’s board of directors.
“Contrary to her monolog [sic] and blatant lies, I have NEVER been on the board of ALT5 — not now, not ever,” Eric said in an X post announcing his plans to sue Friday.
The Financial Times article that Psaki based her segment on reported that Eric was an “observer” on the company’s board last year.
Eric also said he has “zero business interests in China. No properties, no investments, nothing!”
He said that during Trump’s bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he and his wife went to see the Great Wall of China.
Psaki addressed Eric’s allegations on her show Friday night and specifically talked about his reported status on Alt5 Sigma’s board.
“Now, to be as fair as possible to Eric, I should say that his role at Alt5 is that, at the very least, been complicated,” she said. “We do know that he’s not currently a director on the board, but…the company initially announced that he was becoming a director on Alt5’s board of directors.”
The MS NOW host added: “Eric Trump’s connections to the company have never just been limited to him being a board observer, because Alt5 Sigma is deeply intertwined with the Trump family cryptocurrency company that Eric Trump co-founded, World Liberty Financial.”
Aside from members of Trump’s family and Cabinet, several tech tycoons joined the president on his China trip, which ended Friday, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang.
“I think a lot of good has come of it,” Trump said of the trip during tea with Xi on Friday, per The New York Times. “We’ve made some fantastic trade deals, really for both countries.”
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