The former Trump International Hotel, which was sold in May of 2022, hosted foreign governments that spent more than $750,000 over several years while Donald Trump was president, according to findings by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. File photo by Pat Benic/UPI |
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Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Foreign governments spent more than $750,000 over several years at the former Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., during a key influential time of U.S. foreign policy, according to investigative findings by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
The committee released financial records on Monday, showing extensive foreign government spending at the Trump hotel, which was sold in May of 2022, during former President Donald Trump's term in office. Among the six governments that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, were Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and the People's Republic of China.
"Today, I am releasing the first set of documents revealing that, during the same time periods they were seeking to influence American foreign policy, six nations spent more than $750,000 at President Trump's hotel -- renting lavish rooms for up to $10,000 per night," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, said in a letter.
"These documents sharply call into question the extent to which President Trump was guided by his personal financial interest while in office rather than the best interests of the American people," she wrote.
The letter to the National Archives and Records Administration requests presidential records to determine whether Trump distorted U.S. foreign policy to serve his financial interests, in violation of his oath of office, according to the report.
The documents were obtained from a subpoena issued by the late Chairman Elijah E. Cummings during the 116th Congress regarding investigations into former President Trump's conflicts of interest.
According to the committee, Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, revealed that foreign governments spent more money than previously at the Trump Hotel at "sensitive times for those countries' relations with the United States."
According to the documents, former Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak and his entourage spent more than $259,724 at the Trump Hotel in September of 2017, with Razak's presidential suite alone costing $10,000 a night.
Members of the Saudi royal family spent at least $164,929 at the Trump Hotel between late 2017 and mid-2018. And in April of 2018, the Qatari government spent more than $300,000 at the Trump Hotel.
"These documents, which the Committee continues to obtain from Mazars, will inform our legislative efforts to ensure that future presidents do not abuse their position of power for personal gain."
During his presidency, Trump did not run the hotel after he handed day-to-day control of the business to his sons.
"As a company, we went to tremendous lengths to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest, not due to any legal requirement, but because of the respect we have towards the office of the presidency," Eric Trump said in a statement as he reminded the committee that his father was the first president in history to donate his annual salary back to the United States government.
"We walked away from billions of dollars in new deals, ceased all international expansion, engaged with an outside ethics advisor to review any material transactions and furthermore, have voluntarily donated all profits from foreign government patronage at our properties back to the United States Treasury on an annual basis," he said.
