Why Donald Trump’s Debt is a National Security Risk

BY JOE CIRINCIONE, a Distinguished Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, DC.

WASHINGTON, 19 Oct. - (ANA) - If you owe someone a lot of money, they have leverage over you. To whom, exactly, does the U.S. president owe this money?

Donald Trump’s failure to disclose his foreign debts poses a serious risk to the national security of the United States. It is not just the amount of the debt but his refusal to provide any information about to whom he owes the money and, therefore, who might have influence over him.

Trump denied at the NBC Town Hall October 15 that he owed money to any foreign interests. “Not that I know of,” he told NBC reporter Savannah Guthrie when she asked if he owed money to “any foreign bank, any foreign entity.”

This is not true, according to multiple sources, including the president’s own financial disclosure forms that list a $300 million debt to the Germany-based Deutsche Bank, and many more debts to others. Trump’s tax returns claim a total of $421 million in debt, while some sources estimate the debt as high as $1 billion.



This is an exerpt from an article publisged by Defense One on 18 October.  _ (ANA) -

For the full text , visit: https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/10/why-donald-trumps-debt-national-security-risk/169330/

AB/ANA/19 October 2020 - - -