Foreign Officials Spent $750,000 At Trump’s D.C. Hotel While Lobbying U.S. Government, Lawmakers Say
ForbesNov 25, 2022
Report: Foreign Governments Spent Over $750k at Trump Hotel
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The Facts
According to documents released by the US House Oversight Committee on Monday, officials from six foreign governments spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on stays at former Pres. Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington while allegedly lobbying the US government on foreign relations matters.
According to the documents — obtained by the committee from Mazars USA, Trump’s former accounting firm — officials from China, Malaysia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE spent upwards of $750k from the end of 2017 through mid-2018.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
This latest development confirms what was already known: Trump’s hotel was a magnet for lobbyists, Republicans, and foreign dignitaries hoping to get in the then-president’s good graces. These documents detail the specific amount each foreign country used to sway Trump and the US government and how egregiously Trump violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.
Pro-Trump narrative
This is just the latest front in the witch hunt against Trump. While the documents indeed show foreign expenditures at Trump's hotel, they fail to provide evidence that Trump was even aware of them or that the spending directly influenced US foreign policy. Trump's opposition is grasping at straws.
