CANNES DIARY: Behind the scenes of the 2024 film festival

CANNES, France (AP) — Welcome to Cannes. The annual film festival is always a spectacle, but 2024's edition may be the most combustible in years. The 77th Cannes red carpet unfurls against a backdrop of war and protest. The #MeToo movement, so slow to take root in France, is now quickly tearing through the country's film industry. Festival workers have threatened to strike.

And yet, the usual cavalcade of celebrities and filmmakers from around the world are descending upon the French Riviera over the course of two weeks. And so is The Associated Press. This year, we're keeping a running diary of life at — and in — Cannes. Follow along for an insider's view from the festival.

The big premieres Saturday were Jacques Audiard's “Emilia Perez,” Jia Zhang-Ke's “Caught by the Tides” and “Rumours,” co-directed by Guy Maddin. Meanwhile, the casts of Yorgos Lanthimos' “Kinds of Kindness” and Paul Schrader's “Oh, Canada” faced the media.

— Standing ovations may be commonplace at Cannes premieres but press screenings here, like in most places, usually pass with without a single clap. That wasn't the case for “Emilia Perez,” which drew a hearty round of applause from even cynical critics and journalists. It's a movie that, on its face, has no right to working. Zoe Saldaña stars as Rita, a Mexico City lawyer hired by a the kingpin of a drug cartel to help him flee Mexico to have gender confirmation surgery. This turns out to be just the beginning of a relationship that will continue between Rita and Emilia Perez (Karla Sofía Gascón), whose wife (Selena Gomez) is also in the mix. Oh, and it's a musical. Here, finally, is a film that can be compared to both “Sicario” and “Mrs. Doubtfire.” Odd as that may sound, the unabashed audacity of “Emilia Perez” is tough to resist. Cannes might have had its first breakout hit from the competition lineup.

— Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos were speaking to a reporter at the Carlton Hotel when the news broke on their next movie together. It's been just a few months since “Poor Things” was at the Oscars, and their latest collaboration, “Kinds of Kindness," had premiered only the night before in Cannes. But they'll reunite again in “Bugonia,” for Focus Features, described as being about a kidnapping by a pair of conspiracy obsessives. Joining them this time is Jesse Plemons, a standout in “Kinds of Kindness.” “He's become part of the family,” Stone said.

— The year's festival has seen some very famous veterans of Cannes back on the Croisette. George Miller. Cate Blanchett. Francis Ford Coppola. None, though, could hold a candle to Baby Annette, who made her triumphant return at the premiere Saturday of Leos Carax's 41-minute “It's Not Me.” Carax's “Annette," which paired Adam Driver and Baby Annette in some of the most extraordinarily surreal scenes in recent memory, opened Cannes in 2021. Baby Annette, you might have thought, would never be seen again. And yet she's back, like Chucky. Carried aloft into the premiere, actor Denis Lavant greeted her by gently kissing her hand.

LA CITATION DU JOUR: “I embellished it myself with a magic marker. I think the wardrobe people were a little afraid to do too much so I took that burden off their shoulders.” — Paul Schrader, speaking to reporters about who wrote “peace and love” on the jockstrap worn by Jacob Elordi in a scene during Schrader's “Oh, Canada”

Francis Ford Coppola colorfully faced the media the day after the premiere of “Megalopolis,” Yorgos Lanthimos debuted his “Poor Things” follow-up, “Kinds of Kindness," and Paul Schrader unveiled his Russell Banks adaptation, “Oh, Canada.”

— A mere three months after “Poor Things” was taking home Oscars, Lanthimos and Emma Stone came to Cannes with their third and most provocative collaboration in “Kinds of Kindness.” This film, a triptych of subversive head-scratchers, uses much of the same company of actors — Jesse Plemons, Margaret Qualley, Willem Dafoe, Mamoudou Athie, Hong Chau and Stone — across the strange tales revolving around controlling relationships. There are connecting threads and color schemes, but it's striking how, for 167 minutes, Lanthimos and company are emphatically not in awards-movie mode anymore.

— It's been a grand festival for bird movies. After Thursday offered Andrea Arnold's gritty, warm-hearted fable “Bird,” on Friday, I caught Zambian-British director Rungano Nyoni's “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” an even more beguiling work of avian-themed cinema. Nyoni's first film, “I Am Not a Witch,” was a Cannes standout in 2017, and her latest confirms her as a thrilling filmmaking talent. “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” which A24 is distributing, is again deftly playful and darkly comic about quite serious things. In it, arranging a funeral in Zambia unmasks plenty about sexual abuse, patriarchy and family.

— For at least a few hours Friday, both Coppola and Schrader were across from each other on the rooftop terrace of the JW Marriott, separately doing interviews. Rub your eyes and you could rewind 40-plus years. Neither of the New Hollywood legends are much for waxing nostalgic; though. Their focus was on their latest films, or maybe even the one after that.

NOTABLE NUMBER: Four. During the festival, Screen Daily always publishes a daily grid of star ratings from a dozen film critics, providing a good snapshot of how the competition lineup is unfolding. But four days into Cannes, not one of the critics has given a top score — four out of four stars — to a single film. That's unusual this far in, but it probably confirms what most have been saying on the ground here: The quality of the movies is down this year. Things can change fast, though. I'd wager the best is yet to come.

LA CITATION DU JOUR: “There’s so many people when they die, they say, ‘I wish I had done this, I wish I done that.' When I die, I’m going to say, ‘I got to do this.’ I got to see my daughter win an Oscar and I got to make wine and I got to make every movie I wanted to make. I’m going to be so busy thinking about all the things I got to do that when I die I won’t notice it.” — Francis Ford Coppola, at the press conference for “Megalopolis.”

HONORABLE MENTION: “I don’t think I dance. I’m a bad dancer. I think the beauty of dancing on screen is the effort to try.” — Barry Keoghan, post-"Saltburn," on his moves in “Bird.”

Just as the first full day of Cannes was dominated by 79-year-old George Miller and “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Thursday belong to 85-year-old Francis Ford Coppola, who unveiled his self-financed opus “Megalopolis.”

— There is much more that can be said about the “Megalopolis” premiere, but one thing worth noting was how much family was central to Coppola's return to Cannes. As he walked the red carpet, he clung to the arm of his granddaughter, Romy (daughter of Sofia). With him at the premiere were four more family members, including sister Talia Shire. After the screening, as the crowd cheered him, he introduced each. But Coppola, whose wife Eleanor died last month, left the audience with the message that we are all “one human family.” Flop or not, it was moving.

— As it turned out, “Megalopolis” wasn't the only fable premiering. Also debuting in competition was Andrea Arnold's “Bird,” a bleakly naturalistic coming-of-age drama with touches of magical realism. Nykiya Adams stars as Bailey, 12, who encounters a strange drifter (Franz Rogowski). Family is a key word for Arnold, too, but for different reasons. She typically fosters an exuberant collective, mixing professional and non-professional actors. When the cast of “Bird,” including several young kids, hit the carpet, they had a grand time together.

NOTABLE NUMBER: 45. That's how many of master documentarian Frederick Wiseman's films are now digitized, with a touring retrospective coming this year and next to Paris, London and New York's Lincoln Center. The 94-year-old was in Cannes to screen the restored version of 1969's “Law and Order,” in which he observed the routines of Kansas City police officers.

LA CITATION DU JOUR: “There’s certainly other stories there. Mainly because we wrote, in order to tell the story of ‘Fury Road,’ we had to know the back story of Furiosa and Max in the year before. But I’ll definitely wait to see how this goes before we even think about that.” — Miller, at the press conference for “Furiosa.” A film about Mad Max in the year leading up to “Fury Road” has been written for some time. Now, we'll see how “Furiosa," which cost nearly $170 million to make, does when it arrives in theaters next week. The very well received Cannes bow (and a secured release date in China) should help.

Cannes properly kicked into high gear with a full slate of films and the high-wattage premiere of George Miller's “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” The movie's afterparty by the beach was fittingly adorned with both sand and fire, but thankfully no War Boys. (Or is War Boyz?)

— The Cannes red carpet has the potential to mint a glamorous young star, and that was very much the case for Anya Taylor-Joy. She perfectly matched the moment at the “Furiosa” premiere, posing stylishly and playfully saluting her director. But as much has been made of Taylor-Joy inheriting the role from Charlize Theron, it's worth noting that for a substantial amount of the two-and-a-half-hour film, Furiosa is played as a child by a younger performer, Alyla Browne. And, she, too, is very good. So cheers for both Young Furiosa and Even Younger Furiosa.

— A few standout films premiered in different sections. In competition, Magnus von Horn’s “The Girl with the Needle” is an imposingly grim, expressionist black-and-white film about a heinous crime in post-WWI Denmark. It's bleak stuff, but the way the film reserves its most damning judgment for an uncaring society is impossible to shake. Another standout in Critics' Week: Jonathan Millet’s “Ghost Trail.” It's an engrossing, mournful detective story about exile, starring Adam Bessa — a strikingly potent screen presence — as a Syrian refugee hunting his former torturer in France.

— Something you might not know? The Cannes red carpet is replaced — or at least the main bit in the middle — every few days. Because it's been rainy, the first costume change was Wednesday. That's, undoubtedly, more often than many Cannes journalists clean their formal wear.

NOTABLE NUMBER: 6. No, 7. Nope, 8. Those were the trade report counts for the length of the standing ovation for “Furiosa.” This whole enterprise is a bunch of manipulated stagecraft and best dismissed as any kind of real metric. But if we're going to do this, let's at least get an official stopwatch.

LA CITATION DU JOUR: “For me, it’s quite a bizarre time. There’s so much hate and weird fantasies projected at me. People are looking at me like I’m a radioactive thing.” — Judith Godrèche, the actor at the center of Cannes' belated #MeToo movement, who premiered her short “Moi Aussi.”

Opening day in Cannes is relatively calm and straightforward, as far as Cannes days go. Just one movie premieres. Under gloomy skies, Cannes kicked off with “The Second Act,” a French comedy about a group of actors filming a movie directed by artificial intelligence. Meryl Streep was given an honorary Palme d'Or. And the jury headed by Greta Gerwig was introduced.

— Cannes opening ceremonies are brief but singularly surreal. After a clip reel, Gerwig was serenaded with David Bowie's “Modern Love” by Zaho de Sagazan, an homage to Gerwig's “Frances Ha.” As the singer made her way from the audience to the stage, Gerwig seemed to be choking back both laughter and tears.

— Last year’s Cannes is talked about with hushed tones because of how good it was — for the terrific lineup and for the post-Cannes success of some films. That made Messi, the dog from last year's Palme winner “Anatomy of a Fall," an especially welcome presence on the red carpet. The border collie, who's been enlisted to shoot daily videos for French TV, frolicked up and down the carpet ahead of the opening ceremony. Cannes has strict rules about formal attire — women without heels were once turned away. But Messi went bare paws.

— It's been just over two months since the Oscars, but Gerwig wasn't the only one stepping back into the spotlight. A fellow juror is best actress nomineeLily Gladstone, who said of the Cannes invite: "I thought I just got over my imposter syndrome last year."

NOTABLE NUMBER: Zero. The amount of times Messi soiled the red carpet.

LA CITATION DU JOUR: “My mother, who is usually right about everything, said to me: ‘Meryl, my darling, you’ll see. It all goes so fast. So fast.’ And it has, and it does. Except for my speech, which is too long.” — Meryl Streep

Come back here for more from Cannes throughout the festival, and find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival.

Emma Stone poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Kinds of Kindness' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)

Messi the dog poses for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony and the premiere of the film 'The Second Act' during the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Festival workers prepare the red carpet during preparations for the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Monday, May 13, 2024. The Cannes film festival runs from May 14 until May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

Jury president Greta Gerwig poses for photographers during the jury photo call at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Louis Garrel, from left, Lea Seydoux, Raphael Quenard, and Manuel Guillot pose for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony and the premiere of the film 'The Second Act' during the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jury member Eva Green poses for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony and the premiere of the film 'The Second Act' during the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Jury president Greta Gerwig, right, points at Zaho de Sagazan during the opening ceremony of the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Meryl Streep poses for photographers upon arrival at the awards ceremony and the premiere of the film 'The Second Act' during the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

"Me Too" director Judith Godreche, center, poses with hands covering their mouth upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Jury member Eva Green, left, and jury president Greta Gerwig pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Anya Taylor-Joy, left, and director George Miller pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Chris Hemsworth, left centre, poses for a selfie upon departure from the premiere of the film 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)

Anya Taylor-Joy poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

Franz Rogowski, left, and Barry Keoghan pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Bird' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Director Andrea Arnold, from left, Jasmine Jobson, Carlos O'Connell, Jason Buda and Frankie Box pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Bird' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Anya Taylor-Joy, left, and director George Miller pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Grace VanderWaal, from left, Giancarlo Esposito, Aubrey Plaza, director Francis Ford Coppola, and Romy Mars pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Nicolas Cage poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'The Surfer' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Emma Stone poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Kinds of Kindness' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)

Director Paul Schrader poses for portrait photographs for the film 'Oh, Canada', at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Director Francis Ford Coppola poses for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Megalopolis' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Jesse Plemons, left, and Kirsten Dunst pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Kinds of Kindness' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Andreea Alexandru/Invision/AP)

Karla Sofía Gascon,left, and Selena Gomez pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Emilia Perez' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

Uma Thurman, from left, director Paul Schrader, and Richard Gere pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Oh, Canada' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Emma Stone, from left, director Yorgos Lanthimos, and Jesse Plemons pose for photographers at the photo call for the film 'Kinds of Kindness' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Cole/Invision/AP)

Selena Gomez poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'Emilia Perez' at the 77th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — President Donald Trump used the first major foreign trip of his second term to outline a vision for restoring global stability that is grounded in pragmatism and self-interest rather than values, holding out U.S. ties to wealthy Gulf countries as a model for America’s longtime foes.

His four-day swing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which ends Friday, put a spotlight on Trump’s transactional approach to foreign affairs as he was feted by autocratic rulers with a trio of lavish state visits where there was heavy emphasis on economic and security partnerships.

His trip played out against the backdrop of stubborn global conflicts, including Gaza and Ukraine, that showed the limits of his influence. But Trump insisted he was turning the page on American “interventionalism” in the region as he moved to recognize the new government in Syria for the first time and prodded Iran to engage on nuclear talks before it’s too late.

Some takeaways from Trump’s travels:

Presidential trips to the Middle East usually feature at least some public calls for authoritarian governments to improve their human rights efforts. Not this one, as Trump celebrated his business deals with Gulf royals and admired their wealth.

Trump toured the marble and gilded palaces of Gulf rulers and deemed them “perfecto” and “very hard to buy.” He praised the “gleaming marvels” of the skyline in Saudi Arabia. And he groused about the “much less impressive” Air Force One.

In Trump’s remarks at a VIP business conference in Riyadh, he went out of his way to distance himself from the actions of past administrations, the days when he said American officials would fly in “in beautiful planes, giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs.”

Rights advocates took that as a pledge of nonintervention, swearing off some of the pressure past U.S. presidents have brought to bear on partners to varying degrees to ease up on detentions, suppression of critics and other issues.

“It’s absolute support for absolute monarchy,” said Saudi exile Abdullah Alaoudh. His father, a Saudi cleric with a wide following there, is imprisoned in the kingdom.

Some rights advocates said Trump officials gave them private assurances the administration was working on behalf of detained Americans and rights advocates. Tommy Pigott, a deputy spokesman at the State Department, declined to say whether Trump raised those or other rights issues in discussions with Gulf royals.

While Trump was in the Mideast, Vladimir Putin opted to skip direct peace talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite the U.S. president's strong calls for them to meet face to face.

Trump has been pushing Putin and Zelenskyy to move with greater haste to end Russia's grinding war in Ukraine.

But after it became clear Putin wouldn’t be attending talks in Turkey this week and would instead be sending underlings to Istanbul, an annoyed Trump insisted he knew all along that it was highly likely Putin would be a no-show.

“I don’t believe anything’s going to happen whether you like it or not, until he and I get together,” Trump said. “But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying."

As he wrapped up his visit on Friday, Trump said the face-to-face would happen "as soon as we can set it up.”

Trump was scheduled to fly back to Washington on Friday, but tried to keep people guessing until the end. He teased late Thursday that he would be heading to a “destination unknown” — “probably" Washington, he added. His opaque language stoked speculation that he might make a drop-by to Turkey.

But on Friday morning, he told reporters he needed to get back to Washington. His daughter Tiffany had her first child while the president has been away.

“I would actually leave here and go,” Trump said. “I do want to see my beautiful grandson.”

Just two months ago, the Trump administration wasn’t sold on Syria’s interim government led by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the onetime al-Qaida-affiliated insurgent. They worried the Syrian president didn’t have the legitimacy to govern the country’s ethnically diverse population.

Clashes broke out in early March, killing hundreds and targeting many more members of the Alawite religious minority to which the ousted Syrian leader Basher Assad belongs.

The moment gave the Trump White House pause about easing sanctions on Syria. But Trump signaled Monday that he was having a change of heart and was moving toward lifting the Syria sanctions. A day later, he announced the move during an address to Gulf leaders.

Trump then took it another step by agreeing to meet al-Sharaa.

Trump said he was impressed with al-Sharaa, who not that long ago had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head. The president called him a “young, attractive guy” with a "very strong past.”

Trump said it was recommendations from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that nudged him to take a chance on al-Sharra.

“President Erdogan called me and said: ‘Is there any way you could do that? Because if you don’t do that, they don’t have a chance,’” Trump said. “So, I did it.”

Throughout the trip, Trump felt more than comfortable dishing out exaggeration and hyperbole.

“This has been an amazing trip.” Trump told reporters Thursday as Air Force One was about to land in Qatar. “We’ve raised trillions of dollars of investment for our country.” A little later he put the figure at $4 trillion.

That figure is about two times the combined gross domestic products of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, meaning that any announced investments would likely accrue over several years — if at all — in ways that might not show up in overall U.S. economic growth numbers.

Boeing confirmed that Qatar’s $96 billion purchase of its 787 and 777X jets was the largest order for 787s and wide body jets in the company’s history. Trump enthused it was “the biggest order in the history of, I think, aviation, certainly of that size” of jets.

Trump also went overboard in running down the economic record of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, at one point declaring, “The days of economic misery under the last administration are rapidly giving way to the greatest economy in the history of the world.”

The U.S. economy grew at 2.8% last year. It declined at an annualized rate of 0.3% during the first three months of this year.

While Trump's trip initially was conceived as a visit to reward countries that invest in the United States, Trump at one point hoped it also would herald significant steps to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. Positive news on both fronts proved elusive.

Trump barely mentioned either conflict on his trip – and when he did, it was generally in the context of his assertion that they wouldn’t have occurred had he won reelection in 2020.

As Israel stepped up an offensive in Gaza — a prelude to a promised full takeover of the territory if Hamas doesn’t release the remaining hostages in its captivity — Trump was again musing about the creation of a “freedom zone” in its territory. It's a notion rejected by Palestinians and the broader Arab world because Trump's plan would relocate civilians from Gaza to allow for rebuilding.

Israel conducted significant airstrikes all week in Gaza as Trump was in the region and the fighting on the ground appeared to escalate Friday morning even before Trump left the UAE.

Trump was already facing questions about conflicts of interest for traveling to the Middle East to shape U.S. policy at a time when his family’s business interests in the region have boomed. He attempted to quiet worries about national security and constitutional questions by insisting he’s smart to accept a $400 million luxury plane from Qatar and use it as Air Force One.

“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE,” Trump posted on his social media site during his Middle East swing.

The president also dodged questions about a state-backed investment company in Abu Dhabi using a Trump family-aligned stablecoin for a $2 billion investment in the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said.

Beyond that, the Trump family has piled up deals to license its brand for real estate projects, and to build Trump towers and golf courses, around the Middle East. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says it’s “frankly ridiculous” to wonder if those profits might influence Trump’s governing decisions.

Madhani reported from Dubai. Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Will Weissert and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony at the Amiri Diwan in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump arrives with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the group photo with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders during the GCC Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrive at Qasr Al Watan, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)