President Donald Trump is once again under scrutiny over foreign money flowing into his family’s cryptocurrency business, and his response to potential emoluments clause violations followed a familiar pattern — feigned ignorance, internal contradictions, and an insistence that critics simply don ’t grasp his brilliance. Pressed on whether overseas investors were enriching his family while he occupies the Oval Office, Trump dismissed the concerns as “ridiculous,” insisting he has no involvement in the venture even as he defended it at length as an innovation the country can’t afford to lose. As he spoke, his denials repeatedly clashed with his own public statements and disclosures tied to the project, turning his attempt at deflection into a self-inflicted stumble. U.S. President Donald Trump gives a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 21, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland. The annual meeting of political and business leaders comes amid rising tensions between the United States and Europe over a range of issues, including Trump’s vow to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Rather than directly addressing the constitutional issue at the center of the controversy, Trump pivoted to grievance, framing the scrutiny as yet another politically motivated attack and casting himself as a victim of unfair treatment. The more specific the questions became, the more abstract his responses grew. “Well, I don’t know about it,” Trump said, despite the deal involving his own family business. “My sons are handling it. My family is handling it. And I guess they get investments from different people. But I have all I can handle right now with Iran and with Russia and Ukraine and with all the things we’re doing. So I don’t know exactly other than I’m a big crypto person. I’m the one that probably helped crypto more than anybody. Because I believe in it.” Only then did Trump reach for a familiar fallback — warning that if the United States doesn’t move forward on cryptocurrency under his leadership, other countries will. In particular, he invoked China as the looming threat, suggesting that any attempt to rein in his family’s business would amount to handing economic dominance to America’s chief rival. ‘GET HIM OUT!’: Trump Blindsided on Camera by a Top Official’s Visit to Epstein Island He Didn’t Even Know About — As MTG Blows the Lid Off a Closed-Door Trump Meltdown “And the reason I believe in it is because if we don’t do it, Scott, [Trump turned toward Treasury Secretary Bessent off camera] I think we can say then China is going to do it. If we don’t do crypto, then China is going to do it. And it’s just like AI. We’re leading AI by a lot. And if we weren’t leading, China would have led. They’re very capable. They’re very good.” Q: The WSJ reported that the royal family of Abu Dhabi invested hundreds of millions into your World Liberty Financial. Can you decide why you decided to take that investment?TRUMP: Well, I don't know about it. I know that crypto is a big thing and they like it. My family is… pic.twitter.com/I2ir6P8wiB— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 2, 2026 The answer set off immediate backlash online, with critics pointing out that Trump cannot credibly claim ignorance about a deal that reportedly sent as much as $187 million directly into his own family’s bank account. “He is such a crook. People in the future are going to wonder why he wasn’t prosecuted,” one user wrote.  “I don’t know about it then rambles on about it. JFC [Jesus F—king Christ],” another exclaimed.  According to the Journal, a firm linked to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan — Abu Dhabi’s national security adviser and brother of the United Arab Emirates’ president — purchased a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial for roughly $500 million. The agreement was signed by Eric Trump and made Tahnoon’s firm the largest shareholder in the company. Based on World Liberty’s ownership structure at the time, the upfront payment alone could have sent up to $187 million to the Trump family. Another $31 million was set aside for entities tied to the family of Steve Witkoff, a co-founder of World Liberty and Trump’s longtime associate, who had just been named U.S. envoy to the Middle East weeks earlier. The timing raised alarms because, two months later, the Trump administration reversed course and approved the sale of highly advanced American-made AI chips to the UAE — technology the Biden administration had previously refused to provide out of concern it could be diverted to China. Those chips are considered critical to advanced weapons systems, surveillance, and cyber operations. David Wachsman, a spokesperson for World Liberty Financial, acknowledged the investment but denied any link between the deal and U.S. policy decisions. “Neither President Trump nor Steve Witkoff had any involvement whatsoever in this transaction,” he said, adding that “any claim that this deal had anything to do with the Administration’s actions on chips is 100% false.” White House counsel David Warrington echoed that defense, insisting that “the President has no involvement in business deals that would implicate his constitutional responsibilities,” and that “President Trump performs his constitutional duties in an ethically sound manner and to suggest so otherwise is either ill-informed or malicious.” Ethics experts were unconvinced. Robert Weissman, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said the situation creates unavoidable doubt about whether policy decisions were influenced by foreign money.  “Maybe the President would have reached the same decision over the transfer of high-tech [chips] to the UAE if he wasn’t also getting money from them,” Weissman said. “But we’ve got no way to know that, and we do know there was a lot of opposition inside the government to do exactly what he has OK’d.” World Liberty has quickly become one of the Trump family’s most profitable ventures. ABC News reported last year that the family secured roughly $5 billion when trading of the firm’s digital token opened. That financial success has only intensified scrutiny over Trump’s insistence that his assets are safely walled off in a trust managed by his children — a structure critics note falls far short of a traditional blind trust. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly rejected the criticism, saying the president “only acts in the best interests of the American public” and that “there are no conflicts of interest.” Democrats in Congress were far less charitable. Sen. Chris Murphy called the arrangement “mind-blowing corruption.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren labeled it “corruption, plain and simple.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen went further, writing, “Foreign countries are bribing our president to sell out the American people.” On social media, Trump’s attempt to plead ignorance became its own punchline.  “When Trump says he doesn’t know he in fact does know,” one commenter wrote.  Another satirized Trump’s China warning in other words: “If I don’t scam hundreds of millions of dollars, then China will.” ‘Mind-Blowing’: Trump Acts Clueless When Reporter Corners Him on Corruption—Until He Won’t Shut Up and Unknowingly Rambles Into a Confession ...read more read less