Donald Trump built his million-dollar empire with the help of multiple foreign investments. A new report by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee claims the businesses benefitted more than $7.8 million in payments from nearly 20 governments, including China , Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, during his two years in the White House.
Article 1 of the United States Constitution states, “No person holding any office … shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” However, it would be considered illegal if any president accepts foreign money without Congressional permission, reported NPR.
Democrats claim in their evidence report that his Trump International hotel drew many foreign diplomats and dignitaries. The financial disclosures reveal he earned over $40 million from the DC hotel in 2017 and $40.8 million in 2018. The documents have been released by Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars, and a federal agency as part of a year-long court battle.
The 156-page-long report titled: “White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump” was released on Thursday, January 4, 2023. The records “demonstrate that four Trump-owned properties collected, at the least, millions of dollars in payments from foreign governments and officials.”
The Democrats have accused the former president of violating the US Constitution by accepting gifts and other favors, taking advantage of their position of power. The former real-estate mogul, renowned as a successful hotel and property developer, has faced scrutiny for his million-dollar empire since becoming president in 2017.
A representative of Maryland, Jamie Raskin, also a top Democrat on the committee, said, “This report sets forth the records showing foreign government money — and all the spoils from royals we can find — pouring into hotels and buildings that the President continued to own during his presidency, all in direct violation of the Constitutional prohibition.”
Although the 77-year-old argued he had given up his family’s businesses after taking oath as the US president and claimed his two sons- Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, looked after their company’s day-to-day operations. However, he remained the sole owner of his firms, including the “authority to draw out funds without any outside disclosure,” the reports disclosed.
The foreign government that contributed the bulk money to Trump businesses is China. Despite the Republican candidate’s frequent criticism of the state, China alone paid over $5.6 million at his properties. The state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China paid $5.35 million in space rent for Trump Tower from February 2017 to October 2019.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the second largest contributor to Trump’s million-dollar worth. KSA paid over $615,000 at Trump World Tower in New York and the Trump International Hotel in Washington from 2017 to 2020, per CBS News.
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The former president even praised the Saudi government and their “transactional relationships” before joining the White House, “Saudi Arabia, I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million,” Trump said. “Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much!”
The third government he benefitted from is another Middle Eastern country, Qatar. According to the reports, the government spent $465,744 at Trump World Tower. The rest of the payments came from countries like Kuwait, India, Malaysia, Afghanistan, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates.