Unification Church-linked group paid Trump $2.5 mil

October 26, 2023 (Mainichi Japan)

TOKYO -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump received some $2.5 million from the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), a Unification Church affiliated group, to make video appearances on three occasions between 2021 and 2022, while former Vice President Mike Pence was paid $550,000 for speaking at a UPF event, the Mainichi Shimbun has confirmed by acquiring U.S. official records and checking them with court documents in Japan.

This composite image shows former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, left, and former U.S. President Donald Trump in their video messages for a Universal Peace Federation event in September 2021. (Image taken from the group's website)

Meanwhile, the UPF has maintained that the group didn't pay former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who made a video appearance at its event in September 2021. If this is true, we must question why Abe agreed to speak for the event free of charge. In the video, Abe said he "highly appreciated" the Unification Church, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, for its efforts to "place importance on the value of family." This video appearance is believed to have been one of the triggers for his assassination in July 2022.

The UPF was founded by Sun Myung Moon, the Unification Church's founder, and his wife Hak Ja Han in 2005 as the church's friendship group and is headquartered in New York. It's extremely rare for official records indicating that the UPF paid a large sum of money to American politicians to be revealed, and Shinichi Tokunaga, the attorney representing the UPF Japan branch in a lawsuit, told the Mainichi Shimbun that he's "never seen" such documents.

In the U.S., presidential candidates must submit financial reports detailing recent income and other assets to secure transparency for the election. The Mainichi Shimbun filed a freedom of information request with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and obtained the reports submitted by Trump and Pence, who have both announced their bid for the 2024 election.

Financial reports by former U.S. President Donald Trump. The marked rows show payments for his speaking engagements at Universal Peace Federation events.

Trump's financial report lists the three occasions as follows:

1) Description: Universal Peace - Bedminster, NJ - 08/26/21

Income type: Speaking Engagements

Income amount: $500,000

2) Description: Universal Peace Federation World Summit - Palm Beach, FL - 02/10/22 to 02/14/22

Income type: Speaking Engagements

Income amount: $1,000,000

3) Description: Universal Peace Federation World Summit - Bedminster, NJ - 07/25/22

Income type: Speaking Engagements

Income amount: $1,000,000

The first one is believed to indicate Trump's video appearance for the UPF's online event on Sept. 12, 2021 in South Korea, which was shot on Aug. 26 in Bedminster where the former president had a golf resort. The second one was likely for the UPF World Summit 2022 in Seoul, in which Trump also made a video appearance, while the third payment was made for his video appearance in a UPF event in Seoul between Aug. 11 and 15, 2022.

Financial reports by former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. The marked row shows a payment for his speaking engagement at a Universal Peace Federation event.

Meanwhile, Pence's report indicates payment for his speech at the UPF World Summit 2022 as follows:

Description: Speaking Engagement - Universal Peace Federation, Seoul, South Korea, 02/13/22 (payment by Worldwide Speakers Group)

Income type: honorarium

Income amount: $550,000

While the first event on Trump's report doesn't include "Federation" in the UPF's official name, it matches the description given in a legal complaint filed by the group's Japan branch this October and other documents, with the group's lawyer Tokunaga admitting that "It's true they paid Mr. Trump a large sum." Other events on Trump's and Pence's reports also match the information on the UPF's website and videos of the events.

The Mainichi Shimbun emailed campaign organizers of both Trump and Pence asking questions regarding the payments for their speaking engagements, but did not receive a response by the requested deadline. The Unification Church Japan, meanwhile, told the Mainichi to "ask the UPF" about any questions, but we didn't receive any replies from either the UPF headquarters or Japan branch.

Trump's video message in the September 2021 event was about nine minutes long, in which he touched on affairs surrounding North Korea and other topics, where he said, "I want to thank the Universal Peace Federation, and in particular, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, a tremendous person, for her incredible work on behalf of peace all over the world."

At the February 2022 World Summit in Seoul, Trump gave a roughly nine-minute video speech, during which he praised Han for "her outstanding commitment to the cause of peace." He also touched on the conservative newspaper founded by Han and Moon, saying that it "has made a priceless contribution to the defense of truth, faith and freedom, both here in America and all over the globe." Pence was physically present at this event, giving a speech for about 11 minutes.

According to Trump's reports submitted to the OGE, he made $2.5 million for his three video appearances spanning a total of roughly 28 minutes, meaning that he was paid some $90,000 per minute.

On these large amounts of compensation, Yasuo Kawai, an attorney from the Lawyers from Across Japan for the Victims of the Unification Church team, said, "The church's main source of income is supposedly donations from Japanese followers, which means that a significant chunk (of these payments to Trump and Pence) could have been covered by the donations."

Asked whether donations by followers were used as resources to pay for these political figures, the Unification Church Japan told the Mainichi Shimbun, "The Japan corporation doesn't keep track on how the world headquarters distributes donations from Japan to the world." The Mainichi also made an inquiry with the Unification Church world headquarters in South Korea but didn't receive a response by the requested deadline.

Other than the U.S., former prime ministers of France and Italy, as well as a former Brazilian president, among other political leaders in the world, have joined UPF events or appeared in video messages. Sociology of religion professor Yoshihide Sakurai at Hokkaido University graduate school points out that having globally famous leaders at their events allows the Unification Church to make followers believe that Han and Moon are great people recognized at a world level. He added, "The church uses them to spread and promote their teachings."

(Japanese original by Hiroyuki Tanaka and Yukako Ono, Digital News Group)