Trump hasn't donated hotel profits from foreign governments yet
In the days before taking office, President Trump vowed that his companies would donate any profits made from foreign government patrons at his hotels to the U.S. Treasury to avoid any questions about conflicts of interest. Almost two months into his presidency, that hasn't happened yet. The Trump Organization now says it plans to make the donation after the end of the calendar year.
The president's company has developed a policy to help identify profits from foreign government customers and donate the money, and is implementing it, spokeswoman Amanda Miller said Friday.
Miller would not provide a copy of the policy or otherwise explain how Trump hotels and similar businesses will separate profits from foreign governments' rentals of rooms and suites, conference rooms and banquet facilities, or payments for other services at its hotels, and deliver the money to the Treasury as the president and his lawyers spelled out in a nationally televised January news conference.
“The donation will be made on an annual basis after the end of each calendar year,” Miller said.
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Trump and his attorneys have repeatedly stated that while they do not believe he is required to do so, he was taking the steps to put to rest any concerns about potential conflicts of interest between his leadership of the federal government and his family's vast business empire.
The Trump Organization also would not provide USA TODAY with the dollar amount of profits it has accrued from foreign governments during Trump’s presidency so far. While foreign patronage at Trump properties in recent months has included the Kuwait Embassy’s celebration of Kuwait National Day at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., in February, it is unknown how much business the Trump Organization has conducted from other national governments at its properties in the U.S. and abroad.
Sheri Dillon, an attorney representing Trump, said at a Jan. 11 news conference that the then president-elect had directed that profits from foreign government hotel business would be donated to the Treasury because “he wants to do more than what the Constitution requires.”
“President-elect Trump has decided, and we are announcing today, that he is going to voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotel to the United States Treasury,” Dillon said at the time. “This way, it is the American people who will profit.”
While Miller did not answer a request to describe how the company determines which payments come from foreign government patrons, she said in calculating profits the Trump Organization will “apply the accounting and financial reporting guidance provided for in the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry.”
“The concept of profit is well understood in the hospitality industry, as are the pertinent accounting rules, for the Trump Organization to comply with the President’s voluntary directive,” she said.
The Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibits U.S. officials from accepting gifts or titles from foreign states without congressional approval.
While Trump’s critics and some ethics experts have said any foreign government business at a Trump property potentially runs afoul of the Constitution, Trump attorneys have maintained that the Emoluments Clause does not prohibit payments in exchange for goods or services provided at fair market value.
The U.S. Treasury Department did not respond to questions for this report regarding how the donations would be processed and communications with the Trump Organization. A spokeswoman for Dillon’s law firm, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, referred questions to the Trump Organization.
In addition to announcing the plan to donate hotel profits from foreign governments, Trump in January also resigned his positions in hundreds of business entities and turned over operation of his business empire to his two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric. The president placed his business holdings in a trust called the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, whose trustees are Donald Jr. and Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. The trust was created with the purpose to hold assets for Trump’s “exclusive benefit,” according to business records, and can revoke the authority of the trustees at any time.
Earlier this week, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump would also donate his personal presidential salary to as-yet-undetermined charitable causes at the end of the year. Trump had promised to donate his $400,000 salary during the campaign.
