Ivanka Trump ‘Hysteria’ Sends Albanian Leader Into Meltdown

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s luxury island dream is turning into a political nightmare overseas.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is now racing to calm a growing firestorm after protests erupted over a massive resort plan tied to President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law.

The controversy centers on Sazan, an uninhabited island off Albania’s coast, where Kushner’s investment firm has been pushing plans for a $1.4 billion luxury resort. The project also includes hotel development along the nearby Zvërnec coastline, a fragile, wildlife-rich area known for flamingos, sea turtles and untouched natural beauty.

But as critics warn the plan could wreck one of Albania’s most sensitive coastal areas, Rama lashed out Saturday at what he called a “hurricane of digital hysteria.”

In a lengthy post on X, Rama accused international media outlets of exaggerating the protests and turning a local dispute into a global spectacle.

“As we speak, today’s protest has drawn roughly 2,000 participants,” Rama wrote, claiming the turnout was the lowest so far. He added that even at its height, the protest movement “never exceeded 8,000 people.”

But the images coming out of Albania have told a far more dramatic story.

Protesters have filled streets across the country for days, furious over what they say is a secretive, politically connected development plan that could put profits and powerful names ahead of public land, wildlife and transparency.

Some demonstrations have turned heated. Police have used water cannons during protests in Tirana, where demonstrators held signs targeting Rama and denounced the resort plan linked to Kushner.

The anger has only grown as environmental groups and opposition figures question how the project advanced so quickly — and whether Trump family connections helped open doors.

Conservationists say they have seen little evidence of meaningful public consultation or clear public documentation on permits.

“We have seen no public consultation or public documentation regarding permits,” Aleksandr Trajce, executive director of one of Albania’s leading conservation groups, told The Guardian.

Opposition leader Sali Berisha has said he supports renovation and development projects in general, but suggested Rama may be trying to curry favor with Trump by greenlighting the president’s son-in-law’s plans.

Rama has strongly rejected claims that the project will harm the island or the surrounding environment. He has argued the development could help transform Albania into a major tourist destination and insisted that construction has not officially begun.

“The reality is that there is no project yet,” Rama wrote Saturday, saying there is “only a vision and a plan.”

But critics say the situation on the ground looks very different.

Ariel Brunner, director of BirdLife Europe, told CNN that he and other conservationists visited the site in early May and saw excavators digging up the beach and trucks laying gravel. Trajce also told The Guardian that outrage intensified when workers began putting up a concrete fence topped with barbed wire near Zvërnec.

“People with land there, or who work on land there, suddenly couldn’t get to it,” Trajce said. “It’s gone beyond being an environmental issue now. It’s a citizen thing. It’s much bigger.”

The project has drawn attention not only because of its location, but because of the names attached to it.

Ivanka Trump, 44, recently spoke about the island on David Senra’s podcast, saying she and Kushner approached the idea with “restraint and care.” She said they first came across Sazan while stopping for a swim on a friend’s boat.

The island itself has a dramatic history. For decades, Sazan served as a Cold War military base, filled with bunkers, tunnels and fallout shelters built under Albania’s former communist rulers. Now, Kushner’s firm wants to turn the once-fortified outpost into an exclusive resort destination.

Affinity Partners, Kushner’s investment firm, struck a deal in 2024 to develop the island. Later that year, Albania granted the project “strategic investor status,” a designation that can speed up permits and leases.

That fast-track status is now at the center of the backlash.

For critics, the fight has become about more than one resort. It is about whether a small country’s coastline should be carved up for a luxury development tied to one of the most powerful political families in the world.

Rama, however, is digging in.

“The ambition is not merely to build,” he wrote. “The ambition is to demonstrate that development and environmental enhancement can go hand in hand.”

He has also previously said there is “absolutely no chance” the investment will stop while he remains in power.

That defiant stance has only fueled accusations that the government is brushing aside public concern in order to protect a politically sensitive deal.

For now, Rama insists the backlash is being inflated by media hysteria. Protesters insist they are fighting to save their coastline before it is too late.

And once again, a business venture tied to the Trump family has landed in the middle of a political storm — this time on a tiny island in the Adriatic Sea.