Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

Donald Trump may be getting a TV network

Trump's son-in-law reportedly spoke about the idea with a New York investment banker.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Republican Hindu Coalition's Humanity United Against Terror charity event on Saturday.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Republican Hindu Coalition's Humanity United Against Terror charity event on Saturday.
Kena Betancur/Getty Images

An agent for Donald Trump has reportedly met with a financier on setting up a TV network.

The Financial Times says Trump’s son-in-law and campaign adviser, Jared Kushner, spoke about the idea of a Trump TV network as late as August with the New York investment banker Aryeh Bourkoff. Bourkoff is the founder of LionTree, a bank that does media deal financing.

James Fontanella-Khan, one of the FT reporters who broke the story, joined us to chat about Trump’s future in television. 

On current plans for the network: 

They spoke about setting up a…Trump TV channel. It was a very preliminary conversation — nothing is going on at the moment. But it’s a clear indication that Trump and his family are trying to capitalize on the movement that he’s created in the last year and a half.  

On taking advantage of his momentum:

It kind of shows you that they are very concerned about actually winning. But at the same time they don’t want to lose the platform that he’s built, which is a kind of populist — some would say right-wing — movement that has appetite for greater representation, which they at the moment think the mainstream media isn’t giving them.

Click the above audio player to hear the full interview. 

Related Topics