EGN NEWS DESK
Donald J. Trump’s companies obtained a minimum of $7.8 million from 20 overseas governments throughout his presidency, in line with new paperwork launched by House Democrats on Thursday that present how a lot he obtained from abroad transactions whereas he was within the White House, most of it from China.
The transactions, detailed in a 156-page report called “White House For Sale” that was produced by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, supply concrete proof that the previous president engaged within the type of conduct that House Republicans have labored, up to now unsuccessfully, to show that President Biden did as they work to construct an impeachment case in opposition to him.
Using documents produced via a court docket combat, the report describes how overseas governments and their managed entities, together with a high U.S. adversary, interacted with Trump companies whereas he was president. They paid hundreds of thousands to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.; 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 Constitution prohibits a president from accepting cash, funds or presents “of any form no matter” from overseas governments and monarchs until he obtains “the consent of the Congress” to take action. The report notes that Mr. Trump by no means went to Congress to hunt consent.
House Democrats highlighted the transactions on Thursday as a counterweight to Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Mr. Biden, which has sought to tie him to worldwide enterprise offers by his son Hunter Biden earlier than his father grew to become president in a bid to show corruption or affect peddling. They have up to now failed to point out that President Biden was enriched in any manner by any of these transactions.
”By elevating his private monetary pursuits and the coverage priorities of corrupt overseas powers over the American public curiosity, former President Trump violated each the clear instructions of the Constitution and the cautious precedent set and noticed by each earlier commander in chief,” Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the highest Democrat on the Oversight Committee, wrote in a foreword to the report.
Among the international locations patronizing Mr. Trump’s properties, China made the most important whole fee — $5.5 million — to his enterprise pursuits, the report discovered. Those funds included hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from China’s Embassy within the United States, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Hainan Airlines Holding Company.
Saudi Arabia was the second-largest spender, shelling out greater than $615,000 on the Trump World Tower and Trump International Hotel.
Eric Trump, the previous president’s son, has lengthy insisted that overseas pursuits didn’t affect his father’s presidency and that any revenue the corporate earned on the lodge stays was returned to the federal authorities via a voluntary annual fee to the Treasury Department.
But Mr. Raskin famous on Thursday that donating earnings to the Treasury falls wanting the constitutional necessities positioned on a president.
On Thursday, Eric Trump mentioned in an e mail that the Chinese financial institution talked about within the report had signed a 20-year lease at Trump Tower in 2008, nearly a decade earlier than his father took workplace. And he argued it was clear that the previous president had not allowed his private enterprise incentives to drive his official actions.
“That narrative is insane,” Eric Trump mentioned of the Democrats’ report. He added that “there is no such thing as a president in United States historical past who was more durable on China than Donald Trump,” citing the substantial tariffs the previous president imposed on the nation’s items and providers. He additionally mentioned the Trump Organization did “not have the power or viability to cease somebody from reserving via third events” on the lodge.
House Republicans additionally dismissed the revelations, arguing that there was nothing mistaken with Mr. Trump receiving income from overseas governments whereas he was president however that Mr. Biden’s household’s enterprise was corrupt.
“Former President Trump has reliable companies, however the Bidens don’t,” Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the oversight panel, mentioned in an announcement on Thursday. He charged that the Bidens had made greater than 3 times as a lot as the brand new data present Mr. Trump had from overseas governments “by cashing in on the Biden title,” including that, “No items or providers have been supplied apart from entry to Joe Biden and the Biden community.”
The Democrats’ report acknowledges its personal limitations. Democrats fought aggressively via years of litigation to realize entry to solely a portion of Mr. Trump’s enterprise data. After they received court docket rulings, Mazars USA, the longtime accounting agency for Mr. Trump that lower ties with him and his household enterprise, started in 2022 turning over paperwork associated to his monetary dealings.
The growth got here after Mazars mentioned it might no longer stand behind a decade of annual financial statements it had ready for the Trump Organization.
But as soon as Republicans received management of Congress, they dropped the trouble to pressure Mazars to proceed with its manufacturing of paperwork about Mr. Trump’s enterprise dealings.
Mr. Comer made clear he had deserted any investigation into the previous president’s monetary dealings and was as an alternative specializing in whether or not Mr. Biden and members of his household have been concerned in an influence-peddling scheme.
Still, Democrats say they obtained key materials earlier than the investigation was shut down.
“Critically, even this subset of paperwork reveals a shocking net of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in funds made by overseas governments and their brokers on to Trump-owned companies whereas President Trump was within the White House,” the report states. “These funds have been made whereas these governments have been selling particular overseas coverage targets with the Trump administration and even, at occasions, with President Trump himself, and as they have been requesting particular actions from the United States to advance their very own nationwide coverage targets.”
The report is the results of a multiyear investigation into Mr. Trump’s receipt of funds from foreign-controlled entities whereas in workplace. The investigation started in 2016 underneath the management of Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, who died in 2019.
It famous that Mr. Trump typically bragged in regards to the wealth that overseas governments had supplied him, together with at a marketing campaign rally in 2015, when he prompt that his private monetary incentives may affect his dealings with one other authorities.
“Saudi Arabia, I get alongside nice with all of them,” the report quotes him saying. “They purchase residences from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I purported to dislike them? I like them very a lot!”
The report urges Congress to contemplate adopting new disclosure guidelines to assist the legislative department get hold of data for correct oversight. It additionally recommends a extra formal process for presidents and different officers to hunt Congress’s permission after they obtain and wish to retain wealth from different international locations.
