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Saudi Arabia and China were among 20 foreign governments that spent a total of at least $7.8 million on properties owned by Donald Trump during his presidency, according to a report released Thursday by Congressional Democrats.
The Chinese government and state-owned entities are the biggest spenders on the former president’s properties, paying $5.5 million for Trump-owned properties in New York, Washington and Las Vegas, according to the report. Saudi Arabia and its royal family spent over $600,000.
The findings are the culmination of a years-long investigation by House Democrats into whether President Trump personally benefited from his time in public office. The former president is now the clear front-runner in the Republican presidential primary.
The 156-page report revealed that state-affiliated entities in Congo, Malaysia, Albania and Kosovo, along with China and Saudi Arabia, spent money on President Trump’s hotels and apartments. The investigation is based on documents obtained from Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars.
The report said Qatar spent more than $460,000 and Kuwait more than $300,000.
The spending in 2017 and 2018 came as President Trump began and de-escalated a trade war with China, then launched attacks on the country again amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It also comes after President Trump signed a $110 billion arms deal with the Saudi government, after which Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was sanctioned by the Saudi royal family, according to U.S. intelligence. This coincided with the time when he was killed and dismembered in an operation announced by Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and a House manager during Trump’s second impeachment trial, said the figure is “a fraction” of the actual spending by foreign companies on the former president’s real estate. , and only covered the first two years. about his presidency and his few businesses.
“By prioritizing personal economic interests and the policies of corrupt foreign powers over the American public interest, former President Trump violated the clear mandate of the Constitution and the precautions set and followed by all previous commanders-in-chief.” “Both precedents were violated.” Ruskin.
“While the $7.8 million is almost certainly just a fraction of the illegal foreign state funds that President Trump amassed, this number in itself is a scandal and a decisive spur to action,” Raskin said. added.
James Comer, the top Republican on the Oversight Committee and leader of the Biden impeachment inquiry, said the Democrats’ investigation into Trump is “beyond parody.”
The Biden family and their allies made millions more from questionable countries while offering nothing but access to Joe Biden, Comer claimed. “Former President Trump has a legitimate business; the Biden family doesn’t.”
President Trump’s press secretary did not respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Lauren Fedor in Washington