The front entrance on Pennsylvania of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.: Glynn Wilson
Staff Report –
Inspector General Carol Fortine Ochoa of the independent General Services Administration released a report on Wednesday announcing its legal finding that the GSA ignored guidelines spelled out in the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause and related agency guidelines by allowing President Trump to keep the lease on the old post office building in Washington, D.C. for his hotel near the White House.
The report says the agency ignored “issues under the Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses that might cause a breach of the lease” while adding that the agency “decided not to address those issues.”
“We also found that the decision to exclude the emoluments issues from GSA’s consideration of the lease was improper because GSA, like all government agencies, has an obligation to uphold and enforce the Constitution; and because the lease, itself, requires that consideration,” the report continues.
Critics of the Trump administration have maintained for years that the Trump Organization’s use of the Old Post Office building to run the Trump International Hotel in Washington presents a conflict of interest for the president, as both foreign officials and organizations friendly to the president’s agenda have patronized the business since Trump took office.
Trump did not sell his businesses upon entering the White House in 2017, instead placing his holdings in a trust to be run by his sons. He can revoke that trust at any time.
The White House is not yet commenting on the report.
The hotel is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit from the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals alleging that Trump is improperly profiting off the presidency by accepting payments through the hotel. Arguments in the case are scheduled for March.
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