As it turns out, reality TV isn’t always reality, and the best example there is of that truth is the twice-impeached ex-president who never won the popular vote, Donald Trump. While he played a wildly successful business tycoon on his reality television show The Apprentice, in real life his money comes from an inheritance and the majority of the businesses he’s launched have either gone bankrupt or just lose him money every year, and that was never more true than when he was president.
Where did all the money go from everyone currying favor? Trump DC hotel incurred more than $70 million in losses while Trump was president, documents showhttps://t.co/Js3KGYrS1S
— Barbara Malmet (@B52Malmet) October 8, 2021
Although he reaped the financial rewards of his presidency, taking in millions of dollars from foreign governments at his D.C. hotel, a congressional committee led by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) has released hundreds of pages of documents that show Trump still lost money at his hotel to the tune of $70 million.
According to The Washington Post:
‘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.
‘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.’
House Oversight Committee releasing financial docs this morning provided by the GSA which show despite Trump crowing about all the money he was making, Trump Hotel DC lost more than $70 million while he was in office.
womp womp. https://t.co/6HBycWlqGX
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) October 8, 2021
Although the hotel’s financial losses are well known, the newly released documents showed that the losses are even worse than previously believed. While being paid for anything from a foreign government during a U.S. presidency is a violation of ethics and of the Emoluments Clause, Trump’s $3.7 million in profits from foreign governments are not nearly enough to cover his losses.
‘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.
‘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.’
For years, “Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual taxpayer.”
He told Americans he would run the country like he runs his businesses.
And he has:
Exploding our debt, harming our credit, and with no regard for truth or ethics. https://t.co/sKZ7rFsBBL
— Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) May 8, 2019
If Trump is looking for someone to blame, he can start with himself. As the hotel lost money, Trump’s company attempted to sell it. However, the inept president who presided over a country where COVID-19 spread out of control was forced to take the hotel off the market when businesses like his began to shutter during the initial phases of the coronavirus crisis.
‘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.
‘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.’
LOL! If Trump had divested, he could have deferred capital gains taxes and would likely have made money instead of losing money, according to @DanAlexander21. Turns out, having ethics would’ve been profitable. https://t.co/bnqUKDJP9M
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) October 5, 2021
