Donald J. Trump's businesses have received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments during his presidency, according to new documents released Thursday by House Democrats that show how much he received from foreign transactions during his time in the White House. .
Transactions, described in a 156-page report “White House for Sale” Prepared by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, they provide concrete evidence that the former president engaged in conduct that House Republicans have sought, so far unsuccessfully, to prove that they worked to build an impeachment case against President Biden.
Using documents The report, produced through a court battle, details how foreign governments and entities controlled by Trump, including a US adversary, interacted with Trump's business enterprises while he was president. They paid millions for the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC; 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.
House Democrats criticized Thursday's transactions while Republicans said Mr. They have highlighted the impeachment against Biden as a counterweight to the investigation, which sought to prove corruption or influence peddling by his son Hunter Biden before his father became president by linking him to international business deals. They have so far failed to show that President Biden was in any way enriched by any of those transactions.
“By elevating the policy priorities of corrupt foreign powers above his personal financial interests and the American public interest, former President Trump violated the clear dictates of the Constitution and the precedent carefully set by every previous commander-in-chief,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the oversight committee's top Democrat, wrote in a preface to the report. .
Mr. Among the countries supporting Trump's properties, China paid the largest total — $5.5 million — for his business interests, the report found. Those payments included millions of dollars from China's embassy in the United States, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Hainan Airlines Holding Company.
Saudi Arabia is the second-biggest spender, spending more than $615,000 on Trump World Tower and the Trump International Hotel.
Eric Trump, the former president's son, has long insisted that foreign interests had no influence on his father's presidency and that any profits the company made on hotel stays are returned to the federal government through voluntary annual payments to the Treasury Department.
On Thursday, he noted in an email that the Chinese bank named in the report signed a 20-year lease on Trump Tower in 2008, nearly a decade before his father took office. He argued that it was clear that the former president had not allowed his personal business incentives to drive his official activities.
“That story is crazy,” Eric Trump said of the Democrat's statement, citing the former president's imposition of significant tariffs on the country's goods and services and adding that “there has been no president in American history who has been tougher on China than Donald Trump.” “The Trump Organization doesn't have the ability or the credibility to stop it,” he said.
House Republicans also rejected the revelations on Thursday, saying Mr. There is nothing wrong with receiving revenue from foreign governments while Trump is president, but Mr. They argued that the Biden family's business was corrupt.
“Former President Trump has legitimate businesses, but Biden doesn't,” said Representative James R. Comer said in a statement. He accused Mr Trump of making three times as much as Mr Trump by “cashing in on the Biden name” from foreign governments. And, “No goods or services are provided other than access to Joe Biden and the Biden Network.”
Mr. Raskin noted Thursday that donating profits to the Treasury falls short of constitutional requirements placed on the president.
The Constitution prohibits the receiving of money, payments, or gifts “of any kind” from foreign governments and monarchs “in any manner whatsoever” unless “with the consent of Congress.” The report notes that Mr Trump never went to Congress to seek consent.
The Democratic Party's manifesto acknowledges its own limitations. Mr. Democrats have sued for years for access to only a portion of Trump's business records. After they won court rulings, Mr. Mazars USA, Trump's longtime accounting firm, began turning over documents related to Trump's financial dealings in 2022.
The development comes after Mazars said he could not stand behind a decade of financial statements he prepared for the Trump Organization.
But as soon as the Republicans won control of Congress, they started Mr. They gave up trying to compel Mazars to continue producing documents about Trump's business dealings.
He said he had dropped any investigation into the former president's financial dealings and instead said Mr. Mr. Biden also said he would focus on whether Biden and members of his family engaged in an influence peddling scheme. Gomer clarified.
Nevertheless, Democrats say they obtained key information before the investigation was halted.
“Critically, even a subset of these documents reveal a staggering web of millions of dollars paid by foreign governments and their agents directly to Trump-owned businesses while President Trump was in the White House,” the report said. “These payments were made when these governments promoted specific foreign policy goals with the Trump administration, and sometimes even with President Trump, and demanded specific actions from the United States to advance their own national policy objectives.”
Mr. The report is the result of a multi-year investigation into Trump receiving payments from foreign-controlled companies while in office. Representative Elijah E., a Democrat from Maryland who died in 2019. The investigation began in 2016, led by Cummings.
Mr. Trump has sometimes bragged about wealth given to him by foreign governments, including at a campaign rally in 2015, where he suggested that his personal financial incentives could influence his dealings with another government.
“Saudi Arabia, I get along well with all of them,” the report said. “They buy flats from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Should I hate them? I love them so much! “
The report urges Congress to consider adopting new disclosure rules to help the legislative branch obtain information for proper oversight. It also prescribes a more formal procedure for obtaining congressional approval when presidents and other officials acquire and retain wealth from other countries.
