A new report by House Democrats alleges that Donald Trump overcharged Secret Service agents who protected him and his family for rooms at his Washington D.C. hotel while he was president.
According to a report obtained by NBC News, Trump also benefited from foreign and domestic officials, including those who sought jobs in or were pardoned by his administration, people who paid for rooms at what was then the Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington.
The allegations are the second part of an investigation by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee into Trump’s financial benefits while in office, or as the party calls Trump’s attempts to enrich himself, often at the expense of taxpayers.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Democrats’ findings.
The new report is limited to Trump’s spending records at a Washington hotel during just 11 months of his presidency — from September 2017 to August 2018 — obtained by the panel after a lengthy lawsuit over subpoenas issued to former Trump Corporation accountants. firm Mazars.
Still, Democrats say it offers a window into the ways Trump has used the Oval Office to fill his private company’s coffers and curry favor with foreign governments and people seeking access to and benefits from the Trump administration.
First, the report accuses the Trump Corporation of raising hotel room rates at Secret Service properties, in some cases by 300% more than the approved government daily rate and more than what other guests were charged. for rooms on the same nights.
The report specifically points to Nov. 28, 2017, when the Secret Service paid $600 each for several rooms for agents protecting Trump’s son Eric and wife Lara. That same night, records show, more than 80 rooms at the Trump hotel were rented for less than $600 a night.
In addition to the fees paid by the Secret Service, Democratic investigators say eight U.S. ambassadors, three of Trump’s federal judge appointees, two state governors, one state legislator and a Trump cabinet secretary spent money staying at the Trump hotel. served as a state or federal official during the 11-month period examined by the committee.
One of them was Kelly Kraft, whom Trump appointed the US ambassador to Canada, and later the ambassador to the United Nations. He booked rooms for 20 nights in Trump’s hotel for 11 months and spent about $30,000. The report shows communication in May 2018 between Kraft, then ambassador to Canada, and his staff, who offered him various hotel options near an upcoming conference he planned to attend in National Harbor, Maryland. But emails the committee obtained from the State Department show he insisted on staying at the Trump hotel.
Democrats also found that four of Trump’s ambassadorial nominees, four Trump administration officials or who serve on federal commissions or boards, one federal judge nominee and five pardons stayed at his hotel over 11 years. – monthly period.
Among those seeking pardons was Albert Pirro, the ex-husband of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who spent more than $2,000 for at least four stays at Trump hotels in 2018, according to the committee. Pirro was convicted of federal conspiracy and tax evasion charges in 2000 and is one of the amnesty decrees Trump announced before leaving office. The committee does not allege Pirro was overpaid for his stay, noting that Trump once retained him as a real estate lawyer.
In all, the panel examined $300,000 in payments received by the Trump Corporation over 11 months, which Democrats argue violate the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits the president from receiving compensation from foreign or local governments, including states, other than his official presidential salary. .
However, the Constitution does not provide a remedy or clear penalty for violating the pension provision, and Trump has often tested its limits in office. He originally 2020 G planned to hold meetings aroundSeven groups A peak at the Doral golf resort in Floridahowever, he changed course due to investigations into how his personal business would benefit from the event. Trump expressed his disappointment that he had to move the event. he tells reporters At the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, he blamed “you with this fake pension article”.
Democrats would like a fuller picture of Trump’s hotel spending, but after Republicans took control of the House in 2022, Mazars and others quashed subpoenas in the Trump investigation.
“While this is an extremely small window into the opaque web of more than 500 corporations, limited liability companies and trusts that led Donald Trump to the presidency,” the report says, “it is enough to reveal hundreds of unconstitutional and unethical actions.” the questionable payments he accepted from domestic sources while in office, including a federal agency, numerous federal and state officials, individuals seeking and often obtaining federal office, as well as presidential pardons.
Trump has also faced several lawsuits accusing him of violating the clause, but the courts have dismissed them for various reasons. The new report doesn’t even directly propose punishment for Trump, but instead encourages Congress to write tougher laws that set clear penalties for officeholders who violate pension provisions.
“The findings of these Democratic panel reports reveal significant flaws in the current federal anti-corruption framework — flaws that Donald Trump has exploited to the tune of millions of dollars and intends to exploit again if he is returned to the Oval Office,” write the report’s authors. “Thus, these reports are calls for urgent action that Congress must take to ensure the effective enforcement of the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause as well as the Foreign Emoluments Clause and to ensure that our government serves only the public interest of the people. than the personal interests of the president.”
Democrats in the Oversight Committee released the first part of their report in January; revealed Trump’s private businesses received at least $7.8 million from foreign entities during his presidency.