July 17, 2026

Pressed by The Times' Maggie Haberman on what the President knew about his sons' financial stake in the Kazakh mining deal he signed off on, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt offered a tidy bit of nothing. As far as she understood it, the sons knew better than to touch anything that might look like a conflict of interest.

Which is a nice line, except that Trump reportedly did the actual negotiating with Kazakhstan's President himself. This detail did not come from a leaked memo but from the mining company's own executive chairman.

The executive confirmed that Trump personally worked the deal, and also admitted he could "see how the optics might be disturbing to some people" — which is about as close to an on-record eye-roll as this story can possibly get.

Last year, the administration signed a critical minimum mining deal with Kazakhstan for a little-known U.S. company.

Haaberman asked Leavitt about this.

'What did the President know about his son's involvement in this arrangement, and when did he find out about it?" she asked.

"From my understanding, Maggie, nothing," Lyin' Leavitt said. "I've spoken to the President and his family about this."

"They would absolutely never do anything that would put the President in a place of a conflict of interest," she insisted. "And we have timelines to give you and to provide you, which we did to the news media at the time when this story broke, to prove that very point that I just made.

"So the President did not learn about it until it was in the media?" Haberman asked.

"That's my understanding of the matter, yes," Karoline said.

Sure thing, girl. I can't wait for the day her cross burns the skin on her lyin' neck.

HABERMAN: What did the president know about his sons' involvement in a Kazakh mining deal he approved?

LEAVITT: From my understanding, nothing. They would absolutely do nothing that would put the president in a place of conflict of interest.

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-16T17:59:21.948Z

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