XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.internet, alt.politics.democrats
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns

Don't you worry little boy, President Trump's got his eye on China for all
of us.

China spent over $5.5 million at Trump properties while he was in office, documents show
Zachary Cohen Kara Scannell
By Zachary Cohen and Kara Scannell, CNN
6 minute read
Updated 1:43 PM EST, Thu January 4, 2024


The Chinese government and its state-controlled entities spent over $5.5 million at properties owned by Donald Trump while he was in office, the
largest total of payments made by any single foreign country known to
date, according to financial documents cited in a report from House
Democrats released Thursday.

Those payments collectively included millions of dollars from China’s
Embassy in the United States, a state-owned Chinese bank accused by the US Justice Department of helping North Korea evade sanctions and a state-
owned Chinese air transit company. Accounting records from Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars USA, were obtained by Democrats on the House
Oversight Committee.

China is one of 20 countries that made at least $7.8 million in total
payments to Trump-owned businesses and properties during the former
president’s stint in the White House, including his hotels in Washington
DC, New York and Las Vegas, the report states.
ADVERTISING

The documents offer additional evidence of the rare practice of foreign governments spending money directly with businesses owned by a sitting president but are not a complete record of all foreign payments made to
Trump’s businesses during his time in the White House.

At the time, Trump’s lawyer said the former president planned to donate
foreign profits from his hotels to the US Treasury Department. However,
the amount reportedly donated by the Trump Organization in 2017 and 2018
falls well short of estimated foreign payments that were made to its properties.

Trump refused to divest himself of corporate assets and properties prior
to taking office, meaning he could still profit from his various
businesses with little transparency.

Democrats say the additional accounting records raise new questions about possible efforts to influence Trump through his companies while he was in
the White House.

As an example, committee Democrats point to the fact that Trump declined
to impose sanctions on the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC),
a state-owned entity that leased property at Trump Tower in New York.

A Securities and Exchange Commission filing from 2012 shows that the
Chinese bank’s base rent paid was $1.9 million and documents produced by
Mazars confirm the bank stayed in Trump Tower through 2019 at least.

In 2016, the Justice Department accused the bank of conspiring with a
North Korean bank to evade US sanctions.

But upon taking office, Trump did not sanction ICBC despite calls from Republican members of Congress to “apply maximum financial and diplomatic pressure” by “targeting more Chinese banks that do business with North
Korea,” House Oversight Committee Democrats wrote in a report summarizing
the contents of the Mazars USA records.

Asked about China’s payments to Trump-owned properties, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told CNN, “China adheres to the principle of non- interference in internal affairs and does not comment on issues related to
US domestic politics.”

“At the same time, I want to stress that the Chinese government always
requires Chinese companies to operate overseas in accordance with local
laws and regulations. China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial. China opposes the US politicizing China-US economic and trade issues,” Pengyu added.

The Trump Organization says it donated over $450,000 in estimated profits
from foreign government patronage to the US Treasury over the time of
Trump’s term. The company also worked to track all foreign government
business across its entire portfolio and did not make new business
investments overseas while Trump was in office.

In a statement, Eric Trump said that the former president was tough on
China regardless of any business interests.

“There is no President in United States history who was tougher on China
than Donald Trump … a President who introduced billions and billions of
dollars worth of tariffs on their goods and services,” Eric Trump said.

Democrats also argue that the Mazar documents show Trump repeatedly
violated the US Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits a
president from receiving an “emolument,” or profit, from any “King,
Prince, or foreign State” unless Congress consents. Yet despite ethical concerns that have been raised about Trump’s lack of adherence to constitutional norms that were embraced by his predecessors, legislation
to enforce the Emoluments Clause has gone nowhere in Congress.

The committee, which has investigated Trump’s businesses and his lease of
the Old Post Office in Washington from the US government that housed his
hotel, was provided the records following a years-long court battle that
ended in a settlement in 2022.

Many of the documents in the subset released Thursday have not been
previously made public.

“These countries spent – often lavishly – on apartments and hotel stays at Donald Trump’s properties – personally enriching President Trump while he
made foreign policy decisions connected to their policy agendas with far- reaching ramifications for the United States,” Democrats wrote in their
report.

Saudi Arabia, for example, spent roughly $600,000 at Trump-owned
properties during his time in office and was making significant payments
in May 2017 when it signed a massive arms deal with the Trump
administration.

The Trump administration agreed to the controversial arms deal, worth over
$100 billion, despite bipartisan concerns about civilian casualties
resulting from Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in Yemen.

The report produced by House Democrats also highlighted comments made by
Trump during a 2015 campaign rally regarding his view of Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi Arabia, I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments
from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million.” He continued, “Am I
supposed to dislike them? I like them very much!” Trump said at the time.

Committee Democrats have previously released some of the accounting
records, but those documents only accounted for a fraction of the foreign payments to Trump-owned businesses during the years he occupied the White House.
Foreign spending at Trump World Tower

A sizable percentage of foreign spending disclosed in the latest report
comes from leases or common charge payments countries made for apartments
their diplomatic missions rent or own at Trump World Tower, an apartment building across the street from the United Nations.

Many of the countries bought properties years before Trump ran for office,
but they continued to make payments to the Trump Organization during the presidency.

Saudi Arabia, India, Qatar, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and a Chinese-government linked petroleum company each owned or rented apartments at Trump World
Tower and combined paid the Trump Organization an estimated $1.7 million
in charges and fees, according to House Democrats.

The figure is based on records the Democrats received from Mazars for the
year 2018 – the only year Mazars gave to the committee – and then an extrapolation based on the assumptions the charges remain the same during
the course of Trump’s presidency.

The biggest payment to the UN property came from Saudi Arabia, which owns
the 45th floor of the apartment tower. Democrats estimate the Saudi
government paid $537,080 during Trump’s presidency – out of a total
$615,422 in emoluments. The remainder came from payments to Trump’s hotel
in Washington DC.

Qatar paid an estimated $465,744 for the properties it owned during
Trump’s presidency; India paid at least $264,184; Afghanistan spent an estimated $153,208 for its unit; and Kuwait paid Trump’s company $152,664
for the Trump World Tower.

Kuwait also spent roughly $150,000 to the Washington hotel for National
Day events held by its embassy in 2017 and 2018, according to Mazars
records.

The national day event was also held at the hotel in 2019, but the
Democrats said they did not receive records from Mazars related to the
cost. The events were attended by Trump administration officials, the
Democrats said citing press releases from the Kuwaiti embassy.

This story has been updated with additional details.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)