Not so much 150 million in as 70 million out
Trump identifies as not broke, but…
Former President Donald Trump provided “misleading information about the financial situation” of his hotel in Washington while he was in office, according to the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
The committee, which recently obtained documents from the General Services Administration, found that Trump reported his hotel in downtown D.C. brought in $150 million in income while he served in the White House, but the hotel actually incurred more than $70 million in losses.
It depends on who’s asking. If it’s the IRS, losses losses losses. If it’s potential dupes, profits profits profits.
“By filing these misleading public disclosures, President Trump grossly exaggerated the financial health of the Trump Hotel,” the committee said Friday in a news release.
When Trump first applied to lease the Old Post Office Building in 2011 for his hotel, he also provided the federal government with information that the committee said “appeared to conceal certain debts.” Records show Trump specifically didn’t show outstanding balances for properties he owned in other major cities like New York, Chicago and Las Vegas, the panel said.
And why is that? Because the outstanding balances would make him a bad bet. Kind of like if anyone else is seeking a mortgage and doesn’t tell the lending bank about some large debts.
The committee also said the newly obtained documents show that from 2017 through 2020, the Trump International Hotel in D.C. received about $3.7 million in payments from foreign governments, which it said raises “concerns about possible violations of the Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause.”
While he served in the White House, Trump also received “a significant financial benefit” from Deutsche Bank that allowed him to postpone making payments on the $170 million loan for the hotel, the committee said.
“Mr. Trump did not publicly disclose this significant benefit from a foreign bank while he was president,” the committee said.
But he made up for it by throwing candy at Angela Merkel.