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The Chinese government and its state-controlled institutions spent more than $5.5 million on real estate owned by Donald Trump during his term in office, more than any known amount to date, according to financial documents cited in the House report. This is the largest total payment ever made by a single foreign country. The Democrat was released Thursday.
Together, these payments included millions of dollars from the Chinese embassy in the United States, a Chinese state-owned bank accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of helping North Korea evade sanctions, and a Chinese state-owned air transportation company. Ta. Accounting records from President Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars USA, were obtained by Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee.
House Democrats said in a report that China paid a total of at least $7.8 million to Trump-owned businesses and properties during the former president’s time in the White House, including Trump’s hotels in Washington, D.C. and New York. Said to be one of the. And Las Vegas.
The document provides further evidence of the rare practice of foreign governments disbursing funds directly to companies owned by a sitting president, but includes all foreign payments made to Trump’s companies during his presidency. This is not a complete record.
At the time, Trump’s lawyers said the former president planned to donate foreign profits from the hotel to the U.S. Treasury. However, the amount reportedly donated by the Trump Organization in 2017 and 2018 is significantly lower than the estimated foreign payments made for its assets.
President Trump refused to sell any corporate assets or assets before taking office, meaning he could still profit from various businesses despite little transparency. .
Democrats argue that the additional accounting records raise new questions about Mr. Trump’s possible efforts to exert influence through his companies while he was in the White House.
As an example, the Democratic Committee points to the fact that President Trump refused to impose sanctions on Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), a state-owned company that leased the Trump Tower property in New York.
According to a 2012 Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the base rent paid by the Chinese bank was $1.9 million, and documents prepared by Mazars confirm the bank remained in Trump Tower until at least 2019. ing.
In 2016, the Justice Department accused the bank of colluding with North Korean banks to evade U.S. sanctions.
However, after taking office, Trump despite calls from Republican lawmakers to “exercise maximum financial and diplomatic pressure” by “further targeting Chinese banks that do business with North Korea.” Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee concluded in a report that they did not sanction ICBC. Contents of Mothers USA Records.
Asked about Chinese payments for properties owned by President Trump, Chinese Embassy Spokesperson Liu Pengyu said, “China adheres to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and does not comment on issues related to US domestic politics.” told CNN.
“At the same time, we would like to emphasize that the Chinese government always requires Chinese companies to operate overseas in accordance with local laws and regulations. Economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States is mutually beneficial. “We are against the politicization of China-US economic and trade issues,” Pengyu added.
CNN has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment.
This story has been interrupted and will be updated.