Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released a report Thursday attacking Donald Trump hotels for leasing rooms to paying foreign governments while he was president.
The payments to the Trump Organization were made during two years of Trump’s presidency during which time he had stepped away from management of his financial empire.
Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) accused the president of violating the Constitution’s “emoluments clause” by “failing to divest from his business empire and allowing his businesses to accept millions of dollars in payments from some of the most corrupt nations on earth.”
He continued, “Each dollar former President Trump accepted violated the Constitution’s strict prohibition on payments from foreign governments, which the Founders enacted to prevent presidents from selling out U.S. foreign policy to foreign leaders.”
The report claims at least $5.5 million in payments to the Trump Organization came from China or Chinese-owned enterprises.
Eric Trump, Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, pushed back on the report’s claim that the Chinese influenced the Trump administration through purchasing rooms in the hotels. He told the New York Times the claim was “insane” and that there is “no president in United States history who was tougher on China than Donald Trump.”
He disputed other Raskin claims as well, including that Trump violated an agreement to donate profits made from foreign governments.
“What joke! All foreign government profits, for stays at our hotels and other properties while my father was in office, were voluntaraly (sic) donated to the United States Treasury,” he said on X, calling the reports a “counter-narrative for the most corrupt family in political history – The Biden’s (sic).”
What a joke! All foreign government profits, for stays at our hotels and other properties while my father was in office, were voluntaraly donated to the United States Treasury. Just another example of @MSNBC counter-narrative for the most corrupt family in political history - The… https://t.co/RZBk2jcIun
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) January 4, 2024
The timing of the Democrat accusations come as House Republicans appear likely to hold an impeachment vote on President Joe Biden within months. Before adjourning for Christmas break, the House voted to formally begin an impeachment inquiry into Biden for his alleged knowledge of and participation with his family’s, most notably son Hunter’s, foreign business dealings.
The four hotels, particularly the newly refurbished Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., which is now a Waldorf-Astoria after being sold by Trump in 2022, are popular destinations for tourists, including those visiting from outside the country. The other three hotels are the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York, and Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza in New York.
The financial records used in the report were provided to House Democrats by Mazars USA LLC, Trump’s former accounting firm, after a lengthy legal fight that included Trump’s attorneys.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
