Jan. 4 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump’s businesses took in at least $7.8 million from 21 different nations during his time in office, according to a Thursday report from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
The report said that most of the funds came from China with $5,572,548 million from Beijing going to Trump Tower in New York and two Trump International Hotels in Washington and Las Vegas.
According to the report, Trump said in 2016 that he loved China and the biggest bank in the world is located there. Then he added that the U.S. headquarters for that Chinese bank in 2016 was located in Trump Tower in New York.
The Saudis paid $615,422, the second-highest amount of money from foreign governments, to Trump World Tower and the Washington Trump International Hotel.
“These payments were made while these governments were promoting specific foreign policy goals with the Trump Administration and even, at times, with President Trump himself, and as they were requesting specific actions from the United States to advance their own national policy objectives,” the report stated.
The foreword to the report, written by Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asserted that the payments violated the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits accepting payments, titles, or offices from foreign states.
“By elevating his personal financial interests and the policy priorities of corrupt foreign powers over the American public interest, former President Trump violated both the clear commands of the Constitution and the careful precedent set and observed by every previous Commander-in-Chief,” the Raskin report said.
The report is based on a multi-year investigation into Trump’s acceptance of payments from foreign governments during his presidency.
“The presidency became the fulfillment of a get-rich-quick campaign he reportedly described as “the greatest infomercial in political history,” the report said.
House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-K.Y., who is aggressively investigating President Joe Biden’s alleged involvement in Hunter Biden’s business dealings, said in a Thursday statement Democrats are continuing with what he called their obsession with Trump which he described as “beyond parody.”
“Former President Trump has legitimate businesses but the Bidens do not,” Comer asserted.
New York Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron ruled in September that Trump committed business fraud by inflating the values of his real estate properties.
“A discrepancy of this order of magnitude, by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades, can only be considered fraud,” Engoron said in his order.
Comer is not pursuing any investigation into Trump’s business dealings.
Wednesday the Justice Department filed charges against two former Trump associates, alleging they violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
In court filings, Barry Bennett and Douglas Watts admitted lying to the DOJ about lobbying efforts to help Qatar and said they accepted money from Qatar’s government to influence U.S. Middle East policy for Qatar’s benefit.
The same day, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was indicted for allegedly accepting race car tickets and other gifts from Qatar in exchange for government assistance.
