Donald Trump’s luxury Washington hotel lost more than $70 million while he was in office despite reaping millions in payments from foreign governments, according to federal documents released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Friday.
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The committee, chaired by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), released hundreds of pages of financial documents on the property Friday that it received from the General Services Administration, the agency that leased the federally owned property to Trump’s company beginning in 2013.
Maloney and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) allege the documents show that Trump received an estimated $3.7 million from foreign governments and received preferential treatment from Deutsche Bank when the bank allowed Trump to defer payments for six years on the principal of the property’s $170 million loan.
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The findings “raise new and troubling questions about former President Trump’s lease with GSA and the agency’s ability to manage the former President’s conflicts of interest during his term in office when he was effectively on both sides of the contract, as landlord and tenant,” the two Democrats said in a news release.
Maloney and Connolly also wrote a 27-page letter Friday to GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan, saying the documents warranted further investigation.
Previous reporting from The Washington Post showed the 263-room property was running about half empty and losing money, but the documents provide by far the most detailed accounting to date of the hotel and how Trump won the contract for the lease in 2013.
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The documents show, for instance, that Trump’s company had to inject the hotel with more than $24 million in cash from his company’s coffers to offset losses.
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Trump has called the investigations into his hotel and his finances, by both Democrats on Capitol Hill and New York prosecutors, politically motivated and without merit. A spokeswoman for Trump and spokespeople for his company did not immediately return requests for comment Friday morning. The GSA and Deutsche Bank also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump’s company puts D.C. hotel lease up for sale, again
Trump’s lease for the Pennsylvania Avenue property is for sale, and multiple bidders have expressed interest, according to two people familiar with the sale, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private business discussions.
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Trump first put the lease up for sale in the fall of 2019, but when covid-19 struck, many hotels closed either completely or partially due to government shutdowns, and the company pulled the property off the market.
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Sheila Johnson, owner of the Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg, Va., expressed interest in the property last year but it is unknown whether she is pursuing the property. She did not respond to recent calls and text messages seeking comment.
Trump’s company has previously floated $500 million as a possible target price. Industry experts say it is worth well short of that, but that top luxury hotel chains are likely to be interested in taking over the property and marketing it to a wider audience than Trump was able to given his politics.
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Trump’s company spent an estimated $200 million renovating the building into a luxury hotel. Shortly after Trump entered the White House, the GSA ruled that his company remained in compliance with the lease. With Trump in office, the hotel became a gathering place for top Republicans and a magnet for conservative political fundraisers and lobbyists, as well as corporate and international groups seeking to curry favor with the administration.
Despite a series of lawsuits and Congressional hearings launched by Democrats accusing the president of corruption and constitutional violations, his company was able to maintain control of the hotel.