Saudi Arabia foots bill at Trump Hotel days after inauguration

Αrt2560 Δευτερα 13 Φεβρουαρίου 2017
Saudi Arabia foots bill at Trump Hotel days after inauguration
Government & Regulations,
Drew HansenDigital EditorWashington Business Journal
A lobbying firm working for Saudi Arabia made the first known payment on behalf of a foreign government to the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue since Donald Trump became president, according to Politico. It could be the first test of the president’s arrangement to avoid violating the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.

Qorvis MSLGroup, an international firm based in the District, had brought veterans to Washington to urge Congress to repeal a law allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. According to the report, between 20 and 40 vets stayed at the Trump International Hotel in December and January with the assistance of veterans advocacy group NMLB.
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The Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue NW opened in September in the Old… more

SARA GILGORE

One veteran stayed at the hotel Jan. 23-26 — just a few days after Trump’s inauguration — at a rate of $250 to $325 a night, NMLB President Jason Johns told Politico. Disclosures to the Justice Department show the bill was paid by Michael Gibson, a Qorvis subcontractor representing Saudi Arabia, according to the report.

The Trump Organization said it will donate all profits garnered from foreign government payments to Trump hotels to the U.S. Treasury, a move aimed at avoiding the appearance of conflicts of interest related to the Emoluments Clause, which prevents U.S. government office-holders from accepting an emolument — or benefit — from a foreign government.

The Trump Organization, the White House, Qorvis MSLGroup and its subcontractor all declined or did not return requests for comment from Politico.

The Trump Organization has not said how it will identify foreign emoluments, how it will determine profits and when it will make the donations to the U.S. Treasury.

“Paying for a hotel room is not a gift or a present, and has nothing to do with an office. It is not an emolument,” Trump lawyer Sheri Dillon from the firm Morgan Lewis said at a Jan. 11 press conference announcing the Trump Organization’s arrangement.

Donald Trump formally resigned as officer of Trump Old Post Office LLC, the company that operates the hotel, restaurant and spas in the Old Post Office building, earlier this month. He handed the executive role to his son Donald Trump Jr.


Norm Eisen, chief ethics officer for former President Barack Obama and a leading critic of Trump’s business arrangements, said Monday that Trump still maintains an ownership interest in the hotel — which some contend constitutes a violation of its lease from the federal government.

In regards to the Saudi hotel bill, Eisen told Politico that though the payment passed through several hands, it is ultimately Saudi money.

“The problem with Donald Trump’s constitutionally forbidden foreign government cash and other benefits is not just that any one particular payment is problematic — it’s also a systemic problem,” Eisen told Politico. “It’s another tile in the mosaic of unconstitutional behavior.”

Eisen's Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington group sued Trump in federal court for allegedly violating the Emoluments Clause within days of his inauguration.

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