Great Ideas

Trump Org Brags About All the Foreign Money Thrown at Its Washington, DC, Hotel

Emoluments clause, schemoluments clause.
Image may contain Donald Trump Jr. Melania Trump Eric Trump Human Person Ivanka Trump Tiffany Trump Suit and Coat
Donald Trump, accompanied by his children Donald Jr., Eric, Trump, Tiffany, Ivanka and wife Melania, cut the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony of the Trump International Hotel in Washington in October.By Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images.

Quick: You’re the president of the United States and you’ve been plagued for almost three years by accusations of lining your pockets with taxpayer money, not to mention a lawsuit accusing you of violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. Recently, you attempted to award yourself a government contract worth millions that would’ve seen six foreign governments spend untold sums at your floundering Florida resort, but the blowback was so bad that even you walked it back. You’re in the middle of an impeachment inquiry concerning your attempt to pressure another country to open investigations that would personally benefit you, and things are not looking good. Do you: (a) keep your head down and try and stay out of trouble, (b) keep up your usual Twitter screeds but avoid talking about all the cash foreign governments routinely throw your way, or (c) say screw it and brag about the loads of opportunities you’ve had to accept what are effectively bribes from other countries? If your name is Donald Trump, there can only be one answer!

CNN reports that in its attempt to sell the lease to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, the Trump Organization—from which the president continues to profit—has assembled an investor brochure that states the main selling point of the business is all the foreign money thrown its way.

“Tremendous upside potential exists for a new owner to fully capitalize on government related business upon rebranding of the asset,” reads the 46-page investor pitch. The Trump Organization insists that its refusal to solicit foreign business has cost it more than $9 million. According to the brochure, those “sacrifices” include turning away 17,100 room nights in 2019, resulting in $5.3 million in lost room revenue and $3.9 million in lost food and beverage revenue. The investor pitch is an explicit acknowledgment of how important foreign business is to the 263-room luxury hotel in the Old Post Office building blocks from the White House.

Though it includes specific numbers of how much money it turned away from foreign governments, the pitch does not include figures for how much the hotel has accepted, despite reports showing it has become a magnet for foreign officials. Nor does it provide actual or historical financial performance data for the hotel…Despite the Trump Organization’s claims that it turned away millions of dollars in business from foreign governments, the Washington hotel has done brisk business with them. Delegations from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Kuwait have stayed at the hotel or held events there, along with members of Trump’s cabinet and GOP fundraisers. The prime minister of Romania reportedly booked a room earlier this year.

With all that sweet, sweet foreign cash, the company predicts a 65% jump in review from 2018 to 2020, and claims the hotel is estimated to bring in operating revenues of $67.7 million next year, and $6 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, minus the costs of keeping the hotel updated. In announcing that the company was looking into a sale, Eric Trump, channeling his father, said in a statement, “People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel, and therefore we may be willing to sell.”

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