Both NBC Nightly News and CBS Evening News ignored a new report alleging that former President Donald Trump’s businesses received millions of dollars from foreign governments, including China and Saudi Arabia, while Trump was president. 

On January 4, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a report that alleged Trump-owned businesses and properties received at least $7.8 million from foreign countries, with China as the largest contributor. Financial documents from the report show that the Chinese government and Chinese-controlled entities spent over $5.5 million at Trump-owned properties while Trump was in office. 

The report states that these payments were made while foreign governments were promoting policy goals with the Trump administration. Saudi Arabia made payments to Trump-owned properties around the same time Trump signed a controversial arms deal with the kingdom. 

Both CBS and NBC failed to cover the newsworthy report, which alleges that Trump violated the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, during their nightly news shows. ABC’s nightly news program, ABC World News, did highlight the report during its broadcast and included a video from 2015 where Trump bragged about a Chinese bank renting office space at Trump Tower. ABC News also noted the accusations of hypocrisy aimed at House Republicans who are threatening to impeach President Joe Biden over unfounded allegations that he profited from his son’s international business dealings.

Methodology 

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for any of the terms “Trump,” “former president,” or “then president” or any variation of the term “president” within close proximity of any of the terms “foreign,” “entity,” “money,” “payment,” or “gift” or any variation of any of the terms “million,” “bribe,” “finance,” or “royal” for the January 4, 2024, editions of ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News.