Trump real estate deal in Oman 'could have unprecedented conflict of interest' as he readies for US presidential bid

Former US President Donald Trump's real estate deal in Oman raises unprecedented ethical concerns as he readies for a bid to regain the US presidency in 2024, a new investigation has found.

While Trump was in office between 2017 and 2021, he and his aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner worked to cultivate ties with the governments of Oman and Saudi Arabia.

He and his Trump Organisation have since been brought into a development deal in Yiti in Oman by a Saudi state-linked real estate firm, and the project puts him in direct business with the Omani government, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Trump signed on to the Yiti development deal in November 2022, just days before he announced he would be running in 2024 for a second term as president. The Trump Organisation has already made at least $5 million from the Oman deal, according to the report. 

"This is as blatant as it comes," The New York Times reported Virginia Canter, chief ethics counsel to nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington as saying.

"How and when is he going to sell out US interests? That is the question this creates. It is the kind of corruption our founding fathers most worried about."

The Yiti project, whose second phase is being overseen by Saudi construction company Dar Al Arkan, will feature a Trump International Golf Club. Dar Al Arkan and the Trump Organisation want to build luxury hotels, golf course and townhouses at the project, the NYT investigation said.

During his term as president, Trump fostered close ties to the Saudi government, even as Riyadh faced international condemnation for the murder of dissident Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump’s family business profited directly from money spent by foreign governments, including that of Saudi Arabia, at his hotel in Washington. Ethics experts cited this and other incidents as real or perceived conflicts of interest during his administration.

But the Oman real estate deal shows Trump had taken his financial stake in the Middle East to a "new level" as he makes a run for president, the report said.

Investigation author Ben Lipton said after the report was published: "As a NYT reporter, I've been investigating Trump family international deals since 2016. India, Indonesia, Philippines, Turkey, Panama.

"I have never seen anything like the Oman deal, re the potential for a conflict of interest."

Oman is currently playing a crucial role in mediating between Iran and longtime adversaries including the US and Saudi Arabia. It is also a US military partner.

"Oman is enormously important player in the Middle East. Close ties with Saudi Arabia & Iran. US has sold F-16s/other military equipment. It is now involved in negotiations between US & Iran. [Imagine] adding a multi-billion real-estate deal to that mix as a president decides policy," Lipton said.

Trump will face trial in August for charges related to retention of classified documents.