Eric Frederick Trump
(born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
, 45th
president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
from 2017 to 2021, and his first wife,
Ivana Trump
Ivana Marie Trump (, ; February 20, 1949 – July 14, 2022) was a Czech-American businesswoman, media personality, socialite, fashion designer, author, and model. Ivana lived in Canada in the 1970s before relocating to the United States and m ...
.
Trump is a trustee and executive vice president of his father's business,
the Trump Organization
The Trump Organization is a group of about 500 business entities of which Donald Trump is the sole or principal owner. Around 250 of these entities use the Trump name. The organization was founded in 1927 by Donald Trump's paternal grandmothe ...
, running it alongside his brother
Donald Jr. He also served as a boardroom judge on his father's TV show ''
The Apprentice
''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...
''. During their father's presidency, the brothers continued to make new investments in foreign countries, as well as collect payments in their U.S. properties from foreign governments, despite having pledged not to do so.
Early life
Eric Trump was born in New York City and attended
Trinity School.
His parents divorced in 1992, when he was eight years old. As a boy, Trump spent his summers in the Czech countryside near Zlin with his maternal grandparents. His grandfather, Milos Zelnicek, who died in 1990, was an engineer; his grandmother, Maria, worked in a shoe factory. His grandfather taught Trump to hunt and fish.
In 2002, Trump graduated from
the Hill School
The Hill School (commonly known as The Hill) is a coeducational preparatory boarding school located on a campus in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, about northwest of Philadelphia. The Hill is part of the Ten Schools Admissions Organization (TSAO). ...
. He graduated with a degree in finance and management from
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...
in Washington, D.C.
Trump started accompanying his father to job sites and negotiations from a young age. He has said he mowed lawns, laid tile, and did other work on his father's properties in his youth. Trump briefly considered other careers but decided to join the family business while a high school student.
Career
The Trump Organization
![Eric trump](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Eric_trump.jpg)
Trump is the Trump Organization's executive vice president of development and acquisitions.
He worked with his sister,
Ivanka, to redesign and renovate Trump National Doral and its Blue Monster course in Miami, Florida.
In 2013, Trump received ''
Wine Enthusiast Magazine
''Wine Enthusiast'' magazine is an American wine magazine published by Wine Enthusiast Companies in Valhalla, New York. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, Wine Enthusiast Companies engages in the wine accessories, storage, information, educat ...
''s "Rising Star of the Year" Award.
Amid the
Trump–Ukraine scandal
The "Trump–Ukraine scandal" refers to efforts by U.S. President Donald Trump to coerce Ukraine and other countries into providing damaging narratives about 2020 Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden, and giving misinformatio ...
—where President Trump asked the Ukrainian president to investigate
Joe Biden and his son,
Hunter—Eric Trump strongly criticized Hunter, accusing him of nepotism. Eric claimed that, unlike Hunter, "When my father became president, our family stopped doing international business deals." But when Donald Trump became president, rather than place his assets in a blind trust, he made Eric a top executive in the family business, which continued to operate and promote business transactions across the world. PolitiFact and the ''Washington Post'' fact-checker rated Eric Trump's assertion that the Trump family "got out of all international business" false.
PolitiFact noted that not only had the Trump family engaged in international business dealings since Trump became president, but that some of the president's children, including Eric, had openly celebrated their international business activities during that time.
In October 2019, Eric Trump complained of the Bidens, "Why is it that every family goes into politics and enriches themselves?" Shortly before he made that statement, President Trump had decided that the G-7 summit would be held at the Trump Doral resort, owned by the Trump Organization. President Trump reversed his decision amid bipartisan condemnation.
Russian funding
In 2017 it was reported that Eric Trump had said that "we don't rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia" and that "we've got some guys that really, really love golf, and they're really invested in our programmes. We just go there all the time." In 2008 Trump said that "in terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets" and that "we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."
Television
Trump was a boardroom judge on his father's reality television series ''
The Apprentice
''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States.
Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...
'' (2010–2015). He appeared in 23 episodes.
The Eric Trump Foundation
In 2007, Trump established the Eric Trump Foundation, a public charity to raise money for
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee.
On November 30, 2012, the foundation committed to raising $20 million over ten years for the naming rights to the new Eric Trump Foundation Surgery & ICU Center in the Kay Research and Care Center, a $198 million tower that opened on February 19, 2015, on the St. Jude campus.
St. Jude stated in 2013 that the 7th Annual Eric Trump Foundation Golf Invitational on September 9, 2013, at the
Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff, New York, had "...raised $1.5 million for the kids of St. Jude", for a total of $6 million since 2006.
On December 30, 2016, Richard C. Shadyac Jr., the president of the fundraising organization of
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, wrote the Eric Trump Foundation a letter stating that the foundation and "...related efforts, such as an Eric Trump Foundation-affiliated team that participates in the New York City Marathon", had raised $16.3 million for the hospital since the charity's inception ten years earlier.
On December 21, 2016, Trump announced that he would stop active fundraising for the Eric Trump Foundation as of December 31. The move came to avoid the appearance that donors were using him to gain access to his father after he won the presidential election.
The foundation's 2016 tax return, filed under its alternative name the Curetivity Foundation, shows that the contributions it received increased from $1.8 million in 2015 to $3.2 million in 2016. The foundation gave $2,910,000 in donations to St. Jude and several smaller donations to other charities while paying a total of $145,000 to various for-profit properties the Trump family owned.
Controversy about funds usage
In 2016, the fundraising president of
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital stated that the Eric Trump Foundation had raised and donated $16.3 million to the hospital since the charity's foundation.
In June 2017, ''Forbes'' reported that the Eric Trump Foundation shifted money intended to go to cancer patients to the Trumps' businesses.
Eric Trump had asserted that his foundation got to use Trump Organization assets for free ("We get to use our assets 100% free of charge"), but that appears not to be true.
According to ''Forbes'', more than $1.2 million of the donations went to the Trump Organization for the use of Trump's
Westchester golf course, and "Golf charity experts say the listed expenses defy any reasonable cost justification for a one-day golf tournament."
According to a former foundation director, "We did have to cover the expenses....The charity had grown so much that the Trump Organization couldn't absorb all of those costs anymore." ''Forbes'' acknowledged that the charity has done a great deal of good, including an intensive-care unit that opened in 2015 at St. Jude and funding cancer research.
According to Trump, the Foundation's
expense ratio The expense ratio of a stock or asset fund is the total percentage of fund assets used for administrative, management, advertising (12b-1), and all other expenses. An expense ratio of 1% per annum means that each year 1% of the fund's total assets ...
is 12.6%, and "at no time did the Trump Organization profit in any way from the foundation or any of its activities".
''Forbes'' also reported that more than $500,000 of the money donated for cancer patients "was re-donated to other charities, many of which were connected to Trump family members or interests, including at least four groups that subsequently paid to hold golf tournaments at Trump courses."
According to ''Forbes'', "All of this seems to defy federal tax rules and state laws that ban self-dealing and misleading donors. It also raises larger questions about the Trump family dynamics and whether Eric and his brother, Don Jr., can be truly independent of their father."
The foundation says that relevant donors were informed that donations would be redirected.
The Eric Trump Foundation has advertised that its golf charity events raised money exclusively for
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with 95–100% of the money raised going toward the charity. Public tax records show that the foundation applied significant amounts of the funds raised to pay costs of the events to the Trump Organization for use of its facilities.
Additionally, the foundation donated to charitable causes other than St. Jude and made grants to several other charities, including at least three animal welfare organizations and the
American Society for Enology and Viticulture
The American Society for Enology and Viticulture, founded in 1950, is a non-profit, scientific wine production industry organization headquartered in Davis, California.
Its membership of 2,400 includes professionals from wineries, vineyards, aca ...
, a California wine industry organization.
Trump said in July 2016 that Donald Trump had made "hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal donations" to the Eric Trump Foundation in the past, but there is no evidence of that. When ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' requested evidence, Trump appeared to backtrack and refused to give details.
In June 2017, the
New York State Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...
's Office confirmed that it had begun an inquiry into the Eric Trump Foundation, based on issues the ''Forbes'' investigation raised. The investigation was reported as ongoing in December 2018.
Trump presidential campaigns
2016 presidential campaign
![Eric Trump RNC July 2016 (cropped2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Eric_Trump_RNC_July_2016_%28cropped2%29.jpg)
Donald Trump's
2016 presidential campaign
This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*7 January: Kiri ...
was formally launched on June 16, 2015, at
Trump Tower
Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...
in New York City. Eric was a key advisor, fundraiser, and campaign surrogate during the campaign. He and his wife made campaign appearances in numerous states on his father's behalf.
On August 2, 2016, in a television appearance on ''
CBS This Morning
''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
'', Trump was asked to comment on his father's controversial statement to ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'' the previous day in which he said that if his daughter were ever subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace, he hoped she would find another company to work for or switch careers. Trump said, "Ivanka is a strong, powerful woman; she wouldn't allow herself to be
objected 'recte'' subjectedto it."
Attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election
![Eric Trump (50759602648) (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Eric_Trump_%2850759602648%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Trump has promoted several
conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
.
In May 2020, Trump said on Fox News that stay-at-home orders to combat the spread of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
were a strategy by the Democrats and the
Joe Biden campaign intended to prevent his father's reelection by depriving him of the ability to conduct large campaign rallies. Trump said that after election day, "coronavirus will magically all of a sudden go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen."
In September 2020, Trump spread a false video that appeared to show Biden "being caught red-handed using a teleprompter" when he was not.
Following his father's electoral defeat Eric Trump has engaged in attempts to overturn the
2020 United States presidential election, falsely calling the election result a "fraud" and threatening Republican lawmakers to overturn the result.
While ballots were being counted in the 2020 election, Trump made baseless claims intended to cast doubt on Pennsylvania's ballot-counting process. He shared a fake video that purported to show Trump ballots being burned.
Following the
storming of the United States Capitol by his father's supporters in January 2021, Trump was among those who advanced the conspiracy theory that people associated with
antifa were responsible for the attack.
Personal life
Spouse
![Lara & Eric Trump (50760333226)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Lara_%26_Eric_Trump_%2850760333226%29.jpg)
On July 4, 2013, Trump became engaged to his longtime girlfriend
Lara Lea Yunaska, an associate producer on the syndicated television news program ''
Inside Edition
''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is no ...
''. They married on November 8, 2014, at
Mar-a-Lago
Mar-a-Lago ( from the Spanish for ''sea to lake'') is a resort and national historic landmark in Palm Beach, Florida, owned by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Trump acquired Mar-a-Lago in 1985 and referred to it as his "Winter White House ...
Club in
Palm Beach, Florida. The couple's first child, Eric "Luke" Trump, a son, was born in September 2017, and their daughter, Carolina Dorothy, in August 2019.
Big game hunting
In 2010,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA; , stylized as PeTA) is an American animal rights nonprofit organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. PETA reports that PETA entities hav ...
(PETA) criticized Trump, a
big game hunter
Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for meat, commercially valuable by-products (such as horns/antlers, furs, tusks, bones, body fat/oil, or special organs and contents), trophy/taxidermy, or simply just for recreation ("s ...
, for an
African hunting trip he took with his older brother. PETA condemned the brothers after photos showed them on an organized
safari in Zimbabwe, where they killed elephants and leopards. The director general of the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, V. Chandenga, issued an official response supporting the brothers and calling any allegations of illegality "baseless" and "false". The brothers defended their safari on Twitter, affirming their actions as hunters and longtime advocates of the outdoors.
Donald Trump also addressed the controversy, saying on
TMZ
TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...
that he fully supported his sons' actions.
Residency
In April 2021, Trump and his wife acquired a $3.2 million home in
Jupiter, Florida
Jupiter is the northernmost town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the town had a population of 61,047 as of April 1, 2020. It is 84 miles north of Miami, and the northernmost community in the Miami met ...
. In March 2022, Trump joined other members of his family in switching his official residency from New York to Florida.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trump, Eric
Living people
1984 births
21st-century American businesspeople
American conspiracy theorists
American construction businesspeople
American corporate directors
American hunters
American nonprofit businesspeople
American people of Austrian descent
American people of Moravian descent
American people of German descent
American people of Scottish descent
American real estate businesspeople
Businesspeople from New York City
Children of presidents of the United States
McDonough School of Business alumni
New York (state) Republicans
Philanthropists from New York (state)
The Hill School alumni
The Trump Organization employees
Trinity School (New York City) alumni
Eric
The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization).
The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...
Children of Donald Trump