Accountability for the Trump family's foreign business entanglements cannot stop at the American officials involved and must extend to the foreign governments that worked with them, according to an argument now circulating among critics of the administration.
The claim was made by The Bulwark's Michael Weiss, who said in a video published by the outlet that any effort to expose those on the American side would inevitably expose "their accomplices abroad, including in countries that the United States is allied with." The @BulwarkOnline account carried the remarks, quoting Weiss as saying: "You can't just blame the public officials here. You have to also blame the foreign countries, and tell them this is going to affect our relationship with them in perpetuity."
Weiss's warning came as part of a broader discussion with a co-panelist about how Democrats should approach the issue once they are in a position to do so. The video transcript shows Weiss saying the problem "takes two to tango," and naming specific people he said were involved: "It's Kushner in bed with the Israelis, or it's Whitkoff and Kushner and Trump Jr. in bed with the Emiratis."
The account and its guest were describing the allegations as claims, not as established facts, and the remarks were framed as a warning about what should happen if and when those claims are proven. Next News Network could not independently verify the allegations.
On the video, Weiss explained his concern that Democrats would fail to follow through with foreign governments once they are in power. "Here's what worries me, Mark, is that I don't have faith that the Democrats are gonna go to these countries and say, we know what you're doing. You'll have your time in the barrel as well, because this is going to affect bilateral relations when Donald Trump is no longer president."
He compared the dynamic to past shifts in Washington, saying: "This always happens, you know? It's like when Democrats are in the opposition, they love to rail about Russia this, Russia that. Then they get in, and what's the first thing they wanna do? A fucking reset with the Kremlin."
Weiss then directly addressed what he called "the noble opposition," saying: "I wanna hold the noble opposition to account here. It's like, it's time to stop allowing foreign countries to buy up public officials. But you can't just blame the public officials here. You have to also blame the foreign countries and tell them this is going to affect our relationship with them in perpetuity, right? Don't give them a free pass just because the bad guy in the White House has left, and there's a new sheriff in town."
The co-panelist, identified in the transcript as Mark, responded that the discussion reflected a shared commitment to calling "balls and strikes" regardless of which party holds power. He said: "Well said, if you live in D.C. as I do, there's no event you go to at anything, Tank, which doesn't have some type of government sponsorship. It's kind of gross, and we all kind of have fallen into that trap. I will say that for both of us, who during the Biden administration, we were frequently critics of some of the Biden administration policies. We do call it both ways. You gotta call balls and strikes, and so that's a very good, cautionary take you just put forth."
That exchange captures the essence of what critics of the Trump family are arguing: that the problem is not only one administration or one family, but a system in which foreign money flows into Washington and both parties have at times looked the other way. The @BulwarkOnline account's framing of Weiss's remarks as a call to "blame the foreign countries" and to make them understand the cost to bilateral relations "in perpetuity" reflects an emerging theme among administration critics who argue that accountability must be comprehensive to be meaningful.
The same theme appeared in separate commentary published earlier the same day. An analysis titled How the Trump Family's Corruption Can Still Be Checked argued that the family's operations remain vulnerable to scrutiny and can be checked just like other autocratic regimes. That coverage appeared to be part of a wider push among administration opponents to keep the issue alive even when the mechanics of congressional oversight are uncertain.
The exchange on the video was clipped and distributed by the @BulwarkOnline account, where it drew responses from other users. The argument that foreign governments should be named and held to account alongside American officials was the through-line in those responses, and it was repeated across the day as the clip was shared.
Exactly who might press that case — and how — remains unclear. The Democrats have not publicly committed to pursuing foreign governments in the manner Weiss described, and it is not yet known whether the party's leadership shares his concern about follow-through. The question of whether any such effort would extend to allied governments is also unresolved, and no specific country has been officially put on notice.
Next News Network could not independently verify the allegations discussed in the video.
What the video does show is a faction of the administration's critics trying to frame the terms of accountability before the political environment changes. By naming Kushner, Witkoff and Trump Jr. — and by insisting that the foreign governments involved not be given a "free pass" — Weiss and his interlocutor are staking out a position that could complicate future diplomatic relationships if ever acted upon. Whether it gains traction in the Democratic Party is the open question their argument is designed to force.
Our Take
The real news here is not the accusation, which remains unverified, but the demands it places on the foreign governments that worked with the Trump administration's business network. Weiss is right that if the American officials are exposed, the governments on the other end of those transactions cannot be treated as passive partners. If the allegations are proven, allied governments should face lasting consequences in their relations with the United States — no reset, no quiet forgiveness, no return to business as usual. If Democrats are serious about cleaner government, they should say so now and follow through later, rather than rediscover the value of a reset once they hold power.
