Ranking Member Connolly Sounds Alarm Following Report that Donald Trump’s Firm is in Talks to Reclaim its Former Hotel in Washington, D.C.
During his First Term, the D.C. Hotel was the Epicenter of Trump’s Personal Enrichment Scheme
Washington, D.C. (January 10, 2025)—Today, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement after a Wall Street Journal report revealed that President-elect Donald Trump’s real estate firm is in talks to reclaim its former hotel in Washington, D.C.—a site that Trump harnessed to unethically and unconstitutionally rake in millions from foreign governments, a federal agency, federal and state officials, federal job seekers, and presidential pardon recipients.
“A second Trump presidency will bring with it another round of blatant self-dealing. The Trump Hotel in Washington is a billboard for conflicts of interest. Trump’s D.C. hotel received an estimated $3.7 million from foreign governments during his time in office, and he now returns to dip his fingers back in the pot. This kind of in-your-face self-enrichment cannot be tolerated again.”
“GSA, which never answered legitimate questions about its role in the original Trump Hotel lease, must uphold the Constitution which prohibits this type of personal gain by a sitting President from a government lease.”
On October 18, 2024, Oversight Democrats released a staff report revealing how, while he was in office, Trump used the D.C. hotel to unlawfully take hundreds of payments from a federal agency—the U.S. Secret Service—and also to take legally and ethically questionable payments from federal and state officials, federal job seekers, and presidential pardon recipients.
On January 4, 2024, Oversight Democrats released a staff report and new documents produced by Donald Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA LLC, establishing that while former President Trump was in office, he received at least $7.8 million from 20 governments, which sought and often obtained favorable treatment from the Trump Administration, over a two-year period at just four of Trump’s properties, including the D.C. hotel.
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