Democrats say Trump hotels got foreign money during presidency

Donald Trump-owned hotels received at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments and their representatives during his presidency, according to a report from House Democrats.

The 155-page report shows this money came from China, Saudi Arabia and more than 20 other countries — and that the amount likely provides just a glimpse of the actual total received, Representative Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability Committee, said Thursday. 

Democrats said these payments to Trump hotels in New York, Washington and Las Vegas represent violations of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause. That clause prohibits federal officials, including the president, from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments without permission from Congress.

“Unprecedented and scandalous,” Raskin said. 

Representatives for the former president did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The timing of the report’s release comes as House Republicans have launched an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden and his family’s business dealings, and as Trump holds a vast lead over other Republicans vying for the 2024 presidential nomination. 

The report makes clear laws are not in place to deal with a president who is willing to convert the presidency into a business of self-enrichment, Raskin said.

The dollar figures in the report come from two years of records obtained by Democrats after a protracted court battle with Trump’s former accounting firm. [Representatives for the firm, Mazars USA, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Accounting Today.]

The records reflect more than $5 million in expenditures from Chinese officials for stays at Trump Tower and Trump hotels in Washington and Las Vegas, and $615,422 by Saudi Arabia for stays at his New York tower and the Trump hotel in Washington, which has now changed ownership. 

Representatives from the Chinese embassy and Saudi Arabian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Bloomberg.

“It’s beyond parody that Democrats continue their obsession with former President Trump,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, in a statement forwarded to Accounting Today. “Former President Trump has legitimate businesses but the Bidens do not. The Bidens and their associates made over $24 million by cashing in on the Biden name in China, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Romania. No goods or services were provided other than access to Joe Biden and the Biden network.”