NEW YORK (AP) — A public document filed by a company that just hired President Donald Trump’s two oldest sons as advisers included a sentence early Monday that said it hoped to benefit from grants and other incentives from the federal government, which their father happens to lead.
But when The Associated Press asked the Trump family business about the apparent conflict of interest, the document was revised and the line taken out.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. are getting “founder shares” worth millions of dollars in New America Acquisition 1 Corp., a company with no operating business that hopes to fill that hole by purchasing an American company that can play “a meaningful role in revitalizing domestic manufacturing,” according to the filing. The president has geared his trade policy toward boosting manufacturing in the U.S.
The original version of the securities filing said the target company should be “well positioned” to tap federal or state government incentives. That reference was taken out of the revised version.
The Trump Organization didn’t reply to a question about whether New America still planned to benefit from government programs or why the line was cut. But the outside law firm Paul Hastings that helped prepare the document sent an email to AP saying it was “mistake” made by “scriveners,” an old term for transcribers of legal papers.
Kathleen Clark, an expert in government ethics, said any excuses are too late because the Trumps had already tipped their hand.
“They just deleted the language. They haven’t committed not to do what they said earlier today they were planning to do,” said the Washington University law professor and Trump critic. “It’s an attempt to exploit public office for private profit.”
New America is what’s know as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. It’s a publicly traded company that exists solely to use its funds to acquire another company and take the target public.
New America plans to raise money by selling new stock on the New York Stock Exchange at $10 a share. That will hand the two Trump sons a potential total of $50 million in paper wealth the moment the stock begins trading on the first day. The company hopes to sell enough shares to raise $300 million, which it then plans to use buying a yet unidentified manufacturer.
A press release issued by New America saying it was focused on “American values and priorities.” It made no mention of the aim to get government incentives.
The filing to New America’s potential new investors to the Securities and Exchange Commission was explicit about what it was looking for in a target company. It said, among other things, it wanted a company that can ride “public policy tailwinds” by benefiting from federal or state “grants, tax credits, government contracts or preferential procurement programs.”
