Donald Trump panics and pulls plug on shadily financed “Trump Soho” hotel as Robert Mueller closes in
In recent weeks it’s become more clear that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating the shady financing behind Donald Trump’s “Trump Soho” property in New York City. The hotel was a joint venture between the Trump Organization and convicted Russian mafia money laundering figure Felix Sater. Now that Mueller is closing in on Trump’s finances, Trump is panicking and pulling the plug on his side of the Trump Soho deal, even going so far as to have his name removed from the hotel.
Donald Trump is claiming that he’s making the move purely for financial reasons, according to a New York Times report (link), and it is true that most of his branded properties have been struggling financially since he made his divisive entry into politics. But the timing here is too obvious to be ignored. Just two weeks ago, an inside source told CBS News that the Trump regime expected Felix Sater to be arrested by Robert Mueller (link). Now suddenly Trump is bailing out of the project entirely.
This kind of strategy is par for the course for Trump. Based on his track record, it’s fair to assume that he expects the Trump Soho project to imminently erupt in major scandal, and he wants to be able to say that he has nothing to do with the place; in fact the “Trump Soho” brand will cease to exist by the time the scandal erupts. However, this does not appear to be a one-off panic move on Trump’s part.
Earlier this week Trump’s phony charity, the Donald J. Trump Foundation – which is under criminal investigation in New York – announced its intent to dissolve itself. Combine this with Trump’s abrupt decision to pull out of the Trump Soho project and take his name off the building, and it marks a clear pattern. Trump is suddenly trying to separate himself from his shadiest financial enterprises, because he believes Robert Mueller is about to expose the criminal underbelly of Trump’s financial empire.
