Trump's Trials - Blowback against Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's Albanian resort project

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

Plans to develop a luxury resort that has links to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have prompted a growing protest movement against Albania's government.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

It's Trump's terms from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. Every episode, we bring you a story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president, with a focus on ways he's using power like no president before him. Here is the latest from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang. Now to the Adriatic Sea. Years ago, Ivanka Trump said that she and her husband, Jared Kushner,

were there on a friend's boat. And off the coast of Albania, they stopped for a swam. Effectively, that's how we found it. We swam to the islands. We went on a hike, barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated. She spoke earlier this month to podcaster David Senra about a stretch of Albania's coastline where she and Kushner plan to build a luxury resort. Albania's government has given the project preliminary approval, but as Empire's Rob Schmidt's reports from the capital, Tirana, the plans have prompted a growing protest movement against. government corruption. Every day since the beginning of June, this is the scene outside Albanian Prime Minister Eddie Rama's office in Tirana. Thousands calling on Rama to resign over a strip of coastal land. His government is helping President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner develop.

Protester Edin Hoshas says the protest have evolved into a show of no confidence in the Albanian government. We're tired of these guys stealing from us, stealing our resources, selling things that are not there to sell. Things like Sazon, an uninhabited island across the sea from Svehannitz, a strip of beach and cliffs along Albania's Adriatic Coast. In David Senra's podcast that aired earlier this month, Ivanka Trump described both plots of land as belonging to her and Kushner. Not only the island, but we have five miles of beachfront directly across from the island, this beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other, beautiful white sand beaches. In an episode called Ivanka Trump on building the authentic life, Trump told Senra that she and Kushner have helped, quote, realize the land's potential. For me, it feels more like a challenge than anything else. The culmination of all of my experience in real estate, all of my travel, a lot of reflection on how I want to live.

But there are already tens of thousands living their lives on this land. Taulot Bino stands along a dirt road separating wet, land from fields of salt, glaringly white, sparkling in the sunlight. The ornithologist holds a pair of binoculars to his eyes and calls out the names of the local residents. This is a blackwing stilts, and then you see common turns and little turns. Just when you came it was a little igrid. And then flamingo, I saw at least one, but should be more in the lagoon.

There are 250 species of birds here in this nationally protected lagoon called Diosanarte. Bino points across. the water to a beach where a road for bulldozers has just been built. Birds are the first to suffer, but not only birds, they are already suffering because building an access road in the middle of the breeding season for a lot of species, it's horrendous. Ivanka Trump says this project shows restraint and care for this pristine environment. But what we see from the project ideas, we see tall buildings up to 10,000 rooms. So all this is for sure a new city, rather than.

than an environmental-based project. Environmental organizations have filed legal challenges against the Albanian government over this project. Dorian Matlia is their lawyer. But the main problem here is the problem that this is a protected area. He says the land this resort would be built on is protected under the European Union's Natura 2000, a network of protected areas in the EU.

Albania is not an EU member, yet it's in the process of becoming one, and Metlia says it's subject to the network's rules. But two years ago, Prime Minister Rama ushered in a new law that stripped away the protection of this ecosystem, allowing for the construction of five-star hotels. Madhlea says this violates both Albanian and EU laws. So this is also endangering this long-time dream of, you know, joining EU as well. So if somebody will try to go to the court, guess that they have high chances of winning. And that's a big problem for the investors. Another problem for investors.

On June 2nd, Albanian prosecutors froze the bank accounts of a firm that purchased land for this project. It's part of an investigation into fraudulent property titles, and it involves a company owned by the Qatari brothers Motas and Rames al-Kayat, who are helping finance and build Kushner and Trump's luxury resort. They did not respond to an NPR request for an interview. When NPR emailed Kushner's affinity partners, a company called Sazon Real Estate Development, responded with a statement from Asher Abesara,

a businessman Kushner has teamed up with to build projects in New York. Our focus, the statement said, remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement, job creation, and creating long-term value for local communities. The statement also said Kushner's affinity partners firm has no role in this project, and that, quote, partners are involved as investors in their personal capacity. Finding out who those investors are, though, has been difficult. From Albanian documents, it's impossible to find out. is one of Albania's most decorated investigative journalists.

For months, she's been tracking down a string of shell companies from Albania to the Netherlands connected to Kushner and Trump's project. You see for one company and you see that who owns this company, it's another company. If you go to this company another one, you will find another one. The other company still it brings to you not to their names, but to another company. So you just need it to go digging, dig it, digging. She likens her investigation to opening a number.

a set of Russian Matryoshka dolls, one leading to another. She's discovered several of the shell companies share the same address in Amsterdam. Each company is worth a single euro. They lead to the smallest Matryoshka doll, a company named Inter-Royal BV, owned in part by a Russian citizen named Nikita Maximovic Vinogradav, and a Bulgarian citizen named Zoya Giorgiva Girova. Chela says neither individual has a public profile. But on paper at least, she says this mysterious pair owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Albanian property. Property where on a recent weekend, hundreds of Albanians converged to protest the project

at the proposed site of the resort. 34-year-old software engineer Albi Potosi was among them. I don't want anyone to build here because this is our land, public land. It's for everybody, not for just a small 1% of people. Betozy says Prime Minister Eddie Rama treats this land like it's his to sell. NPR reached out to the Prime Minister, whose spokesperson said in a statement, the government understands that major investments can generate public debate.

It went on to say, quote, the ambition is to create a new benchmark for sustainable Mediterranean development. Betozi says Rama is a prime minister of one of Europe's poorest countries who's obsessed with five-star luxury projects. But we are living in a studio apartment. Albania is like a studio apartment that barely holds place for Albanians. Butozy says if Kushner and Trump business business, build their resort here, it'll be coastline that'll be closed off to most Albanians.

Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Albania. And before we wrap up, a thank you to our NPR Plus supporters who hear each show without sponsored messages and, of course, who help protect independent journalism. If you are not a supporter yet, you can visit plus.npr.org to find out how you can get a ton of podcast perks across dozens of NPR shows, like bonus episodes, exclusive merchandise, and more. Again, that's plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow. Thanks for listening to Trump's terms from NPR.