Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump wanted a stake in the former president’s media company despite little to no involvement, a co-founder of Trump Media & Technology Group has said.
Speaking to The Washington Post, Will Wilkerson outlined infighting and possibly illegal actions at the company.
“They were coming in and asking for a handout,” he said regarding the president’s sons. “They had no bearing in this company … and they were taking equity away from hard-working individuals.”
“The Washington Post published a story rife with knowingly false and defamatory statements and other concocted psychodramas,” the Trump Media & Technology Group said in a statement, according to Insider.
A computer log concerning the daily activities of the company put together by the co-founders states that they were advised that Mr Trump Jr “needs a bedtime story and some love”.
The log also shows how they got used to dealing with former President Donald Trump’s “sudden reversals and rage,” as described by The Post.
“President trump calls me in morning to yell at me because don jr is upset,” the log said on 23 September 2021.
“Don jr calls Wes and yells at him,” it states on 24 September 2021 in reference to co-founder Wes Moss.
On 12 October last year, the log says that Mr Trump “calls in crazy mood and he tries to renegotiate the entire deal … don jr walks in room and wants to get paid”.
On 30 October, the log says Mr Trump “is pissed”.
Mr Trump pressured Truth Social executives to hand over their shares in his right-wing social media platform to former first lady Melania Trump, according to Mr Wilkerson.
He was one of the first employees of Trump Media & Technology Group, and now he also claims that the former president called co-founder Andy Litinsky in a Florida coffee shop and made the demand of him.
The Washington Post says that Mr Trump made the request, which was worth millions of dollars, despite having already been given 90 per cent of the company’s shares.
Mr Wilkerson says that Mr Litinsky refused, telling the former president that “the gift would have meant a huge tax bill he couldn’t pay.
“Trump didn’t care. He said, ‘Do whatever you need to do.”
Mr Wilkerson filed a whistleblower complaint in August with the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging securities violations involving the Trump Media and Digital World merger.
Mr Litinsky, who first met Mr Trump as a contestant on The Apprentice TV show in 2004, was removed five months after the alleged incident took place, with Mr Willkerson telling the newspaper that it was payback.
Mr Wilkerson and his lawyer shared emails with The Washington Post and the SEC in which Mr Litinsky reportedly told him that Mr Trump was “retaliating against me” and threatening to “’blow up the company’ if his demands are not met”.
The Post says that Mr Wilkerson was fired from his job as a senior vice president of operations at the company after he spoke to the newspaper.
Mr Trump was forced to set up his own social media network after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter in the wake of the January 6 insurrection by his supporters.
The planned merger between Truth Social’s parent Trump Media & Technology Group and blank-check company Digital World Acquisition Corp is currently under investigation by the SEC.
Mr Trump’s following on the platform has grown to more than 4m, but that is still well below the 86m followers he enjoyed on Twitter before his January 2021 ban.
