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Washington. Billionaires from Donald Trump's administration are hunting for luxury homes

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Outgoing US President Joe Biden warned in his farewell address to the nation that an oligarchy was forming in the United States with enormous wealth, power and influence that could threaten democracy. Oligarchs are already there in Washington and are buying luxury houses at the best addresses – writes “The New York Times”. We are truly overwhelmed by the wealth that has flowed into the city since the election, said Jim Bell of TTR Sotheby's International Realty in an interview with the daily.

As “The New York Times” points out, among those selected by Donald Trump there are at least a dozen billionaires among his cabinet members and people expected to hold senior positions in his administration. It's at the top of the list Elon Musk with a fortune of $429 billion, making him the richest man in the world. Trump's net worth was estimated at $6.8 billion.

“It's an extraordinary concentration of wealth in a city where power has always been more important than money, but now it is more tied to it than ever,” says The New York Times. The newspaper points out that “Trump campaigned as a populist defender of the American working class, but he has placed some of his wealthiest donors in leadership positions at the highest levels of government.”

Many of them will oversee the same industries that made them their fortunes.

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– It's tempting to compare it to the Gilded Age (the era in US history from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the Spanish-American War in 1898 – ed.), but John D. Rockefeller did not actually manage William McKinley's (President) campaign USA in the years 1897-1091 – ed.), nor did he move into the White House – said in an interview with the newspaper Michael Waldman, President Bill Clinton's chief speechwriter and currently president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, which promotes reforms of the legal system and works to reduce money in politics.

As the NY Times explains, Waldman was referring to Musk, who spent more than $250 million to help Trump win and is now expected to have an office in the White House.

Record prices

The New York Times writes about the “explosion in the luxury real estate market.”

Financier Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick for Commerce Secretary (according to Forbes, he's worth $1.5 billion), last month closed a deal on a house that resembles a French chateau. The property, located on Foxhall Road, was previously home to Fox presenter Bret Baier. The transaction amount is $25 million, which is a record for this area.

Scott Bessent, a candidate for Treasury secretary (his financial disclosure shows his net worth exceeds $700 million), was viewing a $7 million Federal-style home on N Street in Georgetown once owned by columnist Joseph Alsop.

The 1850 Italianate-style Georgetown home that was home to Boyden Gray, an influential lawyer for Republican Party presidents, sold last month for $10.5 million. Real estate agents did not want to reveal the buyer.

“We are truly overwhelmed by the wealth that has flowed into Washington since the election,” Jim Bell, executive vice president of TTR Sotheby's International Realty, told the NY Times. He added that agents began calling their clients in Washington, D.C., asking if they would be interested in selling their luxury properties.

Journalist and author Sally Quinn received one such call from an agent who told her she could get twice the asking price for an 1890s 1890s Georgetown house. The house once belonged to Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln.

Quinn said she was happy to get the call, but was adamant: “I said, 'Never.' This is my home, she added.

Will Musk buy a hotel?

It's unclear where in Washington, Elon Musk will live, although local media reports he's trying to buy the Hotel Line in the bustling, bar-filled Adams Morgan neighborhood and turn it into a private club. A spokeswoman for Musk, the Tesla founder whose rocket company SpaceX has contracts with the federal government worth billions of dollars, did not respond to the NY Times' request for comment.

“Musk is expected to have an office in the Eisenhower Building across from the White House as co-chair of the unofficial Department of Government Efficiency,” the newspaper reported. He reminds that “his partner in this venture is Vivek Ramaswamy, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur with a fortune worth one billion dollars.

Main photo source: Shutterstock



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