Sunday shows failed to cover a report released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee detailing the nearly $8 million Trump-owned businesses received from foreign governments, including China and Saudi Arabia, while Trump was president. 

The January 4 “White House for Sale” report shows that foreign countries spent $7.8 million at former President Donald Trump's businesses over a two-year period while he was in office. Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee contend that the $7.8 million figure is likely just a fraction of the total amount foreign governments spent at Trump's business while he was president.

The New York Times noted about the scandal: “The transactions … offer concrete evidence that the former president engaged in the kind of conduct that House Republicans have labored, so far unsuccessfully, to prove that President Biden did as they work to build an impeachment case against him.” 

Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Sunday shows ignored the newsworthy report, which alleged that Trump violated the Constitution's emoluments clause. ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, CNN's State of the Union, Fox News' Fox News Sunday, and NBC's Meet the Press all ignored the scandal. 

Similarly, throughout the week, broadcast channels ABC, CBS, and especially NBC provided minimal coverage of the report. Through January 7, only two ABC national news shows (a total of five minutes) and one CBS national news show (a total of one minute) had covered it, while NBC failed to mention the report at all during its national morning or nightly shows.

Major TV news outlets are establishing a pattern of failure to provide adequate coverage of Trump's foreign money scandal. As House Republicans ramp up their attempts to impeach Biden for supposed family corruption, broadcast media must do a better job informing viewers of the “concrete evidence” of corruption by candidate Trump.

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on CNN’s State of the Union and Fox News' Fox News Sunday as well as all original episodes of ABC’s Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and This Week; CBS’ Mornings, Evenings News, and Face the Nation; and NBC’s Today, Nightly News, and Meet the Press for the term “White House for Sale” or any of the terms “Trump,” “former president,” or “then president” or any variation of the term “president” within close proximity to any of the terms “foreign,” “entity,” “money,” “payment,” or “gift” or any variation of any of the terms “million,” “bribe,” “finance,” or “royal” from January 4, 2024, when Democrats on the House Oversight Committee produced the “White House for Sale” report detailing the former president's financial receipts from foreign governments, through January 7, 2024.