Trump International Hotel Washington DC lost almost $74 million between 2016 and 2020 — a figure in direct, obvious contradiction to Trump’s public claim that the hotel was making tens of millions of dollars.
Documents released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform have proven that Trump’s claims of the hotel’s success are, in fact, false.
Despite foreign government payments that Trump concealed, and the hotel being a gathering spot for supporters and foreign dignitaries, the hotel bled millions and millions while he was in office.
Trump’s Washington hotel had to be loaned more than $27 million from one of his holding companies, DJT Holdings LLC, according to financial statements that the House committee obtained. More than 24 million of it was never repaid, and instead was converted into capital contributions.
According to the House committee, Trump had, falsely, reported that the hotel earned him $150 million during his time in office.
The committee found that the hotel received $3.7 million in payments from foreign governments, which poses a potential conflict of interest. While the hotel gave a portion of this money to the government, it failed to provide full details of the payments to the General Services Administration (GSA), which is required. Therefore, it is a possible violation of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.
The committee’s investigation was based on documents released by GSA, the government agency that manages federal properties. Provisions within the Constitution prohibit the president from obtaining payments, salaries, or fees from foreign governments. Therefore, this could be a legal breach of Trump while president.
GSA had negotiated a lease with Trump for the hotel in the historic former federal post office building, but the committee found that Trump concealed debts when he was bidding for use of the property in 2011. He also failed to disclose what have been labeled as “favorable loan terms” from Deutsche Bank AG, which financed the renovations of the bank into the hotel. Deutsche Bank’s preferential treatment for Trump allowed him to delay making payments on the principal of a $170 million loan for six years.
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