- The Washington Times - Thursday, January 4, 2024

President Trump’s hotels and properties raked in millions of dollars from 19 foreign countries during his time in the White House, including more than $5.5 million from China, all in violation of the Constitution, House Democrats said in a new report.

Before taking office, Mr. Trump had long-established business ties to foreign countries and foreign businesses through his real estate empire. Democrats argue he should have divested from his businesses when he entered the White House in 2017. 

Instead, Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee say, Mr. Trump held on to his businesses while president, spurring foreign countries to ramp up their spending at Mr. Trump’s hotels and properties in an effort to influence his actions. 

“The governments making these payments sought specific foreign policy outcomes from President Trump and his administration,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel. “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.”

Mr. Trump, during his presidency, ceded control of the Trump Organization’s hotels and resorts to his adult sons Donald Jr. and Eric. But he maintained ownership of his company. 

Then-President Trump dismissed the allegations that he was violating the Constitution by continuing to operate his businesses, calling the claim “phony.” 

Democrats issued the report as Republicans on the panel conduct an impeachment probe into President Biden’s involvement in his family’s lucrative foreign business deals. 

The GOP-led probe has produced bank records and witness testimony tying Mr. Biden to his son’s business deals and payments, much of it while he was serving as vice president in the Obama administration.

Democrats have condemned the GOP impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden and say Mr. Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, should be under investigation for corruption.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, Kimberly Benza, provided a lengthy response to an inquiry from The Washington Times, refuting all of the Democratic claims and saying the vast majority of the money from the Chinese bank came from a 20-year lease that began in 2008, eight years before Mr. Trump was elected president. 

Mr. Trump’s company took other steps to ensure there was no conflict, Ms. Benza said, including the avoidance of marketing to foreign delegations and related groups. The company also donated all profits generated from any foreign delegations during that time, which amounted to roughly $450,000. 

Ms. Benza said the company had no ability to stop foreign entities from making third-party bookings through Expedia and other companies, and those profits were included in the donation. 

“The House Democrats are desperate to save face for Hunter Biden but there is a large difference between someone who leases commercial office space to a foreign company a decade ago (in 2008 to be exact) versus the son and family members of the vice president extracting money from China, Ukraine and Romania and others while providing no apparent or tangible goods and services,” Ms. Benza said. “It would be dishonest to not clearly distinguish between the two.”

Records obtained by committee Democrats show that Saudi Arabia spent at least $615,422 on Trump properties during Mr. Trump’s presidency. The report points out that Mr. Trump chose Saudi Arabia for his first overseas trip as president. 

Democrats say the spending on Trump properties by the Saudi government influenced Mr. Trump’s decision to visit the country as well as his public statements casting doubt on reports that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The Saudis payments included $212,000 in fees associated with the country’s ownership of the 45th floor of the Trump World Tower and for rooms at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., which was located a few blocks from the White House.
  
The Democratic report estimates that $5.3 million was paid to Mr. Trump by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China during his presidency.

The bank has leased commercial office space in Trump Tower since 2008, but Democrats say the ongoing rent payments influenced then-President Trump’s refusal to impose sanctions on Chinese banks, “despite evidence they facilitated financial transactions to benefit the North Korean regime.”

Democrats said a $195,662 payment from China’s Hainan Airlines Holding Company to the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was meant to aid an affiliate’s efforts to expand investments in the U.S. while facing increasing scrutiny from federal regulators.

House Oversight Republicans did not sign on to the report. 

In a statement provided to The Washington Times, Oversight Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said Democrats are attempting to distract from the House probe into the Bidens, who, bank records show, netted along with their associates millions of dollars from foreign countries mostly by leveraging Mr. Biden’s powerful name to secure deals with business partners, including the Chinese. 

“It’s beyond parody that Democrats continue their obsession with former President Trump,” Mr. Comer said. “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.”

Democrats listed the payments from foreign countries as “emoluments,” a reference to the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, which prohibits any person holding office in the U.S. from profiting “from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

China and Saudi Arabia are listed as the biggest spenders on Trump real estate in the Democratic report, followed by India ( $282,764), Malaysia ($248,962), Afghanistan ($154,750), the Philippines ($74,8100), United Arab Emirates ($65,225), Democratic Republic of the Congo ($25,171), and Kazakhstan ($23,772). 

A federal appeals court in 2020 tossed out a lawsuit by House and Senate Democrats who sued Mr. Trump over claims of violating the emoluments clause. In 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed two other lawsuits alleging the former president violated the clause. 

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.

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