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The White House Red Carpet: Tahnoon Gets Unprecedented Access
At 15:46 · chapter starts 15:08
In March 2025, President Trump invited Tahnoon to the White House and gave him the full red carpet treatment: a formal dinner in his honor with the vice president, Secretary of State, and Secretary of the Treasury, plus photos in the Oval Office with Trump grinning beside him. Rebecca Ballhaus notes that national security officials she spoke to were 'pretty stunned' by this level of access. Under previous administrations, a visiting foreign national security advisor would typically meet their US counterpart — not the president and most of the cabinet. Tahnoon had met Biden once, but received nothing approaching this treatment. The meeting also carried clear policy significance: Tahnoon was there in large part to push for the AI chip deal that Biden had denied, and he made a $1.4 trillion UAE investment pledge that Trump loved.
Three months after secretly buying into World Liberty, Tahnoon got a lavish White House dinner with Trump, the vice president, the Secretary of State, and the Treasury Secretary. Former national security officials said they were stunned — under previous administrations, a visiting foreign official would typically meet their US counterpart, not the whole cabinet.
During his White House visit, Tahnoon made a $1.4 trillion investment pledge, promising the UAE would invest in the US over a decade.
Trump's visit to Abu Dhabi was a spectacle: fighter jet escorts, soldiers, dancers, and flags. Trump called the UAE president a 'magnificent man.' Behind the pageantry, Steve Witkoff and Tahnoon looked on as Trump examined a 3D model of the very AI data center project the chip deal would make possible.
