During former President Trump's 11 months in office, his hotel in Washington, D.C., received approximately $300,000 from sources inside and outside the government, including tens of thousands of dollars in payments from the U.S. Secret Service. was.
The guest records obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee from Trump's accounting firm violate the Constitution's prohibition on Trump receiving funds from federal or state governments. This led to accusations that there was.
The Secret Service, one of the biggest contributors to this number, is paid more than other hotel guests to house its personnel who are staying at the hotel to protect various members of the Trump family. was paid on a daily basis. In less than a year, the agency paid more than $70,000 for hotel stays in Washington.
And while President Trump's sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were not charged with staying at the hotel, records show that his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, both White House staffers, were charged with staying at the hotel. ) had to pay for a stay at the Trump International Hotel. Approximately $6,000 for accommodation. The document does not specify whether the claims were paid by them or by the government.
“This is a very small window into the opaque web of more than 500 corporations, limited liability companies and trusts that Donald Trump brought into office, but the hundreds he accepted during his presidency. “This is enough to reveal unconstitutional and ethically questionable payments,” Democrats wrote in their 58-page report, including federal agencies, numerous federal and state employees, and individuals who frequently sought and obtained federal jobs and presidential pardons. , said they were unable to obtain jobs from domestic sources.
Many of the payments accepted by the hotel appear to violate the Household Allowances Clause of the Constitution, which states that the president cannot receive payments other than a salary from other parts of the federal government or from any state.
“Mr. Trump used the hotel to extort money from American taxpayers and line his own pockets,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the committee's top Democrat, said in a statement. is in direct violation of the domestic allowances clause of the U.S. Constitution.”
“This is a non-waivable prohibition against abusing the office to convert or pocket public funds.”
Trump entered office with an unusual pledge to donate his salary. However, he also refused to exit the business during his tenure.
That has sparked intense scrutiny over efforts to curry favor with the president by staying at his properties, including hotels in Washington.
Washington Post report reveals Trump made money at least $8 millionToward the end of the president's term, he gathered information from taxpayers and political sources. at least $2.5 millionIt comes from the government.
House Democrats were also able to document significant spending from foreign governments during Trump's time in office, totaling $7.8 million from foreign entities in 20 countries. These payments appear to violate the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, which requires Congressional authorization to receive foreign government funds.
The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
The latest Democratic report was released after Democrats sued President Trump's accounting firm, Mazars, and ultimately won in the Supreme Court for access to the records. Democrats on the oversight committee accused Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) of exempting Mr. Mathers from document requirements and limiting his insight into President Trump's finances. Comer denies the accusations.
A Republican spokesperson for the oversight committee called the report “recycling trash” and said it exposed Democrats' “hypocrisy suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Friday's report provides new details about the hotel's revenue, which has become a top must-watch for Republicans, examining payments made from September 2017 to August 2018. However, the records do not include July.
It details how the Trump International Hotel regularly charged the Secret Service more for stays than the government's daily rate.
The report describes the Secret Service as “a 'captive customer' used as a cover for the extraordinarily wealthy, for whom price is no object, and as an ATM to fill vacant rooms.”
The charges, which spanned 200 rooms over about 50 nights, came after the Trump family gave conflicting accounts of how they billed government agencies. Eric Trump initially said the Secret Service would accommodate him for free, but later said he rented it “at actual cost.”
But the report details numerous instances in which the Secret Service was billed much higher than other people staying at the hotel the same night. In one case, a China-based coal company paid $338 per room, compared to $600 per room, three times the government rate.
On another night, the Secret Service paid $1,185 each for two rooms and rented out 100 other rooms for $125 each. Another 100 rooms reserved for meetings were rented for $170 each, according to the report.
The documents obtained from Mr. Mathers do not detail who paid the bill, and it is unclear whether Ivanka Trump and Mr. Kushner paid out of their own pockets or used government funds. A blank space remains.
The Secret Service noted Friday that typically, if a room becomes available, a government fee must be paid.
“The Secret Service strives to be dedicated stewards of federal funds. During protection travel, some of our employees are required to accompany protected individuals everywhere at all times to ensure the safety of protected individuals.” ” an agency spokesperson said in an email.
“There are U.S. General Services Administration protocols governing official travel for all federal employees, and policy requires the use of government rates when available to ensure fiscal responsibility.”
But Democrats argue that other similar payments at least raise ethical concerns.
At least five people who ultimately won pardons from President Trump stayed in hotels, spending more than $21,000. The group includes Albert Pirro, ex-husband of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, and right-wing commentator Dinesh D'Souza.
At least 16 people he appointed, including eight ambassadors and three judges, have stayed at the hotel while serving as federal or state officials and collectively spent more than $100,000 there.
In one example, Kelly Craft, former U.S. ambassador to Canada and then to the United Nations, chose to stay at the Trump Hotel when she was in the city for a conference sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, paying just under $1,400 a night. I paid for the stay. There's no need to stay at a conference hotel 16 miles away at Maryland's Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.
“Records released by the State Department show that Ambassador Craft was offered lodging options much closer to the conference venue than the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., but Ambassador Craft explicitly chose former President Trump's hotel. ,” the report states. .
Two other ambassadors similarly stayed at the hotel during the four-day conference, and the report notes that thousands of dollars were spent while the other ambassadors carried out their duties.
Then-Ambassador to the United Kingdom Woody Johnson spent more than $5,500 on hotels. Richard Grenell, a Trump ally and former ambassador, spent nearly $2,500.
“Given that the State Department typically pays for ambassadors' travel and lodging expenses on official trips, all of these stays likely violate the Constitution's prohibition on domestic allowances,” the report concluded. Ta.
Several people also stayed in hotels at key points in the nomination process, such as when they were scheduled to appear before a Senate committee, sometimes spending thousands of dollars in hotels before confirmation.
“Mr. Trump has turned the Oval Office into a commodity by not only refusing to divest from business during a potential future presidential run, but also by converting thousands of civil service jobs into patronage positions.” “He has made it clear that he aims to increase his chances of gaining personal wealth, the possibility of ancillary compensation from job seekers, and the prospect of blessings from his hand-picked Supreme Court justices,” Raskin said. Ta.
“While we still don't know the full extent of the unconstitutional payments that President Trump has extorted from American taxpayers, one thing is certain: to prevent the kind of rip-off corruption that our Founding Fathers strongly opposed, , we need to put legal barriers in place now.”
Updated at 2:15 p.m.
