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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.
According to the report, China is one of 20 countries that paid a total of at least $7.8 million for Trump-owned businesses and properties during the former president’s tenure in the White House, including hotels in Washington, D.C., New York 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.
The Trump Organization has announced that it has donated more than $450,000 of its estimated profits from foreign government sponsorships to the U.S. Treasury during Trump’s term as president. The company also strives to track all foreign government business across its portfolio and made no new business investments overseas during President Trump’s tenure.
Eric Trump said in a statement that the former president took a tough stance on China, regardless of business interests.
“No president in American history has been as tough on China as Donald Trump, who imposed billions of dollars worth of tariffs on Chinese goods and services,” said Eric Trump.
Democrats also say the Mazar document says President Trump has repeatedly violated the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits the president from receiving “emoluments” or benefits from “any king, prince, or foreign state” without the consent of Congress. It is claimed that it shows that. But no bill has been introduced anywhere in Congress to enforce the Emoluments Clause, despite ethical concerns being raised about President Trump’s failure to adhere to constitutional norms embraced by his predecessor.
The commission is investigating Trump’s business and his leasing from the U.S. government of a former post office in Washington, where his hotel was housed, following a years-long legal battle that ended in a settlement in 2022. Records were later provided.
Many of the documents included in the subset released Thursday had not previously been made public.
“These countries have spent — often lavishly — on apartments and hotel stays on Donald Trump’s properties, enriching Trump personally while he has made his own money in their own countries. “He made foreign policy decisions related to policy issues that had far-reaching consequences for the United States,” the Democrats wrote in the report.
For example, Saudi Arabia spent about $600,000 on Trump-owned properties during Trump’s presidency, and paid a large sum when it struck a major arms deal with the Trump administration in May 2017. .
Despite bipartisan concerns about civilian casualties from Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen, the Trump administration has agreed to a controversial arms deal worth more than $100 billion.
The report prepared by House Democrats also highlighted comments President Trump made at a 2015 campaign rally regarding his views on Saudi Arabia.
“Saudi Arabia, I’m very good friends with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million.” He continued: I like them very much! Trump said at the time.
Democrats on the committee have so far released some accounting records that reveal foreign payments made to Trump-owned companies during the years Trump was in the White House. It was only a small part of the payment.
The latest report reveals that a significant portion of external spending is spent on lease fees and common property for apartments that each country rents or owns at the Trump World Tower, an apartment building located across the street from the United Nations. This is due to payment of expenses.
Many countries purchased the properties years before Trump ran for president, but continued to pay the Trump Organization throughout his presidency.
According to House Democrats, Saudi Arabia, India, Qatar, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Chinese state oil companies each own or rent apartments in Trump World Tower and collectively pay an estimated $1.7 million in royalties and fees to Trump. He said he paid the organization.
The numbers are based on records Democrats received from Mr. Mathers from 2018 (the only year Mr. Mathers submitted to the committee) and then based on the assumption that the charges do not change during President Trump’s term. This is an estimate.
The largest payment for UN property came from Saudi Arabia, which owns the 45th floor of the apartment tower. Democrats estimate that the Saudi government paid Trump $537,080 of his total compensation of $615,422 during his term in office. The rest went to Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C.
Qatar paid an estimated $465,744 for real estate owned during the Trump era. India paid at least $264,184. Afghanistan spent an estimated $153,208 on the troops. And Kuwait paid President Trump’s company $152,664 to build Trump World Tower.
Kuwait also spent about $150,000 on a Washington hotel for National Day events held by the embassy in 2017 and 2018, according to Mazars’ records.
A National Day event was also held at the hotel in 2019, but the Democratic Party said it had not received records from Mazar about the costs. Democrats cited a Kuwaiti embassy press release saying Trump administration officials attended the event.
This story has been updated with additional details.