Guo Wengu is a Chinese real-estate developer and billionaire who is wanted in his native China on charges of rape, bribery, and kidnapping. You would think that the Trump administration would be eager to deport such an undesirable person given their hard-line policy on foreign nationals who have committed crimes.
Instead, the president is refusing to send Guo back to China to face justice.
Guo has built a massive real estate empire in Beijing and has a large social media following on Twitter. When his arrest was imminent in 2014, he fled China and came to New York, where he bought a $67.5 million apartment overlooking Central Park. From his apartment, he has repeatedly taunted the Chinese government via Twitter and told fantastical stories of corruption in the nation of his birth.
Trump was reportedly eager to deport Guo, especially after Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn (a longtime friend of Trump’s) gave the president a letter from the Chinese government demanding Guo’s extradition. Wynn, it should be noted, was seeking China’s approval to obtain licenses for his casinos in Macau and wanted to curry favor with the Chinese government.
But White House aides began warning Trump that handing over Guo would make the United States appear weak. Since the United States has no extradition treaty with China, advisers informed Trump, he was under no obligation to return the fugitive Guo to Chinese authorities.
Those same aides, according to Vanity Fair, also informed Trump that Guo “happens to be a member of his Mar-a-Lago resort (a privilege that costs $200,000 in initiation fees plus $14,000 in annual dues).” Informed of this, Trump had a sudden change of heart:
“The president subsequently changed his mind, exposing a secondary set of even more problematic biases. Apparently, Trump was more than happy to allow a wealthy friend to pressure him on foreign policy — until he was made aware of an even more pressing concern.”
So while Donald Trump may brag that he plans to deport anyone charged with a crime as part of his overall immigration plans, it’s clear that his bluster is nothing but another lie.
Featured Image Via Media Punch
