Although the impeachment proceedings currently unfolding against President Donald Trump center on his plot to get dirt from Ukraine on Democrats in exchange for military aid, his corruption extends well beyond there. The government ethics watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, has now exposed how yet another Trump campaign event is not just benefiting the president’s re-election campaign but making him money — and lots of it. The event in question is a weekend retreat hosted by the Trump Victory Fund at the president’s D.C. hotel, where the cheapest room this past weekend spiked to an astonishing $6,719 from around $500 shortly before and after.
The stunning spike may have stemmed from the hotel getting mostly booked by those attending the retreat, which left only the most expensive accommodations available. Those who paid to attend the event got personal access to the president and his inner circle — and lots of Republican donors clearly took the Trump team up on that, considering how swamped that the hotel was.
CREW notes:
‘Lucky donors who managed to snag a room were also invited to the White House’s holiday open house, meaning that the cost of a room at Trump’s DC Hotel and donations towards his reelection included exclusive political access for the buyer… President Trump, Vice President Pence and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt were scheduled to attend Trump Victory’s retreat… Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, who is one of the top visitors to Trump properties among executive branch officials, also participated in a “Women for Trump Panel.”’
CREW also notes that political spending at Trump’s properties has overall contributed a stunning around $20 million and counting to the president’s business accounts. That constitutes a totally unprecedented corrupt kickback from the office of the presidency — as the organization adds, “to be personally making millions off of a reelection effort is both unprecedented, and wildly corrupt.” The money isn’t going to the campaign — the costs associated with repeated usages of Trump properties for political events are going right into the president’s family business, adding a particularly dismal undertone to his public flippancy that suggests he’s treating the presidency like a reality show.
In total, CREW has tracked 40 events and counting that have been held at Trump’s D.C. hotel alone among 72 political events at Trump-branded properties in total since he took office. The Trump Victory Fund — which is a joint project of the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign — has hosted fundraisers at Trump’s D.C. hotel at least four times recently, including in June 2017, September 2018, May 2019, and June 2019. And it’s not just domestic politicos who have used the venue to pour money into the president’s accounts — shortly after his election, Saudi-funded lobbyists spent hundreds of thousands of dollars there. In the time since, Trump has been infamously deferent to Saudi interests.
Trump has been challenged over this spending by lawsuits alleging violations of the Constitutional prohibition against presidents accepting “emoluments” outside the official channels of government — Trump responded by calling the emoluments clause “phony.” (It’s not.) It’s the same kind of belligerence that’s brought him to impeachment.
