Eric Trump, the second son of the president, did little to allay concerns about his father’s apparent promise to arrange a phone call about Trump Organization business between Eric and the president of Indonesia.
In a hot-mic moment at Monday’s Gaza ceasefire summit, President Trump and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto were caught exchanging words, seemingly about a Trump Organization project in Indonesia.
Trump told Prabowo that he would have Eric, a vice president at the company who holds no government role, reach out to him. “He’s such a good boy,” the president said of his son. “I’ll have Eric call.”
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday asked about this apparent instance of the president using his office to advance his and his family’s business interests. Eric Trump, 41, said of his father: “I’m glad he acknowledges that I’m a good boy. I am a good boy.”
He also said he hasn’t received the call (yet), but expressed gratitude that the president of Indonesia is aware of the Trump Organization’s ventures in the country. “I’ve never met the president of Indonesia,” he said, “but it doesn’t surprise me, given the magnitude and prominence of those projects, that he knows about what I’m doing over there.”
But Prabowo’s conversation with Trump raises the possibility that he is more than just aware of the Trump Organization’s works in Indonesia. Trump and Prabowo seemed to discuss details about the progress of a specific project, and at one point, the Indonesian president told Trump he had spoken to “Hary”—possibly meaning Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a businessman who frequently partners with the Trump Organization on its projects in the region.
Collins asked Eric Trump if he sees the hot-mic conversation as weakening the notion that a “wall” separates his father’s presidential and private affairs.
“I think there’s a huge wall,” he replied. “I mean, there’s so much of a wall that the guy [Prabowo] has never met me.” It was an interesting response, given the president clearly promised to arrange the very meeting his son was citing as proof that a “wall” exists.
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