President Donald Trump held an Oval Office strategy session Monday with PGA Tour executive Jay Monahan and LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan to discuss expediting a merger between the two golf leagues. The proposed deal could further benefit the Trump family, raising questions over conflict of interest and ethical governance.
As reported by The New York Times on Monday, President Donald Trump reportedly met in the Oval Office to plot a course of action to speed up the merging of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf. This merger would provide significant income to Trump’s family.
An executive from the PGA Tour named Jay Monahan and the chairman of the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf league, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, were reportedly present at the meeting, according to Eric Lipton and Maggie Haberman.
According to the report, Trump was allegedly trying to advance a merger that would benefit his family financially by arranging this meeting. “The Trump family is a LIV Golf business partner. The family has repeatedly hosted LIV tournaments at its golf venues, including one planned in April at the Trump National Doral in Miami for the fourth year in a row.”
According to Hui Chen, a former federal prosecutor and fraud adviser for the Justice Department, none of this is shocking, regrettably, according to the Times. The commercial network that supports the Trump family now includes every branch of the US government.
Because of the ties to Saudi Arabia and Trump’s reluctance to punish Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is widely believed to have ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and dissident of the Saudi regime, during Trump’s prior administration, the merger and the Trump family’s association with LIV at its golf clubs were already very contentious issues before he was even elected.
The investigation pointed out that the Trump administration is dealing with a number of ethical dilemmas as all of this is happening, The Raw Story shares.
Take this example: “Not long before Mr. Trump took office, his family started to sell its own cryptocurrency token — earning along with its partners an estimated $100 million in transaction fees — just as Mr. Trump was preparing to sign an executive order directing his administration to draft new cryptocurrency regulations easing oversight of the industry.”
Just like Trump, tech mogul Elon Musk has been accused of reducing government oversight of his companies by dismantling federal agencies.
For example, he allegedly gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau just before he plans to add financial transaction features to his X social media platform. Musk is also the head of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency task force.
Luis Gochoco is a seasoned managing editor and writer with over a decade of experience covering politics, technology, gaming, and entertainment news. With a keen eye for breaking stories and in-depth analysis, he has established himself as a trusted voice in digital journalism. Luis is one of the key forces behind the success of GameNGuide, contributing to 12 million views through engaging and high-traffic content. He also played a pivotal role in generating 8 million views on International Business Times, shaping the platform’s technology and gaming coverage.
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