Panel faults GSA oversight of Trump hotel

NEW YORK — The federal agency overseeing the lease of the luxury hotel that Donald Trump’s family company runs in the nation’s capital failed to carry out its basic responsibilities because it never tracked the millions of dollars from foreign governments patronizing the hotel or examined the origins of a $75 million loan that helped keep its doors open, according to a congressional report.

The General Services Administration “washed its hands of responsibility” to review how much the Trump International Hotel was profiting during his presidency from foreign government payments in possible violation of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, according to the report Thursday by the Democratic-led House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. That provision bars presidents from receiving gifts or payments from foreign governments.

The committee said the GSA “ignored critical ethical and constitutional issues involving then-president Trump’s financial interest in the hotel.”

Neither the agency nor the Trump Organization responded to requests for comment.

In 2019, the agency’s internal watchdog had criticized the GSA for failing in crucial oversight of the property.

The committee, led by Rep. Peter

Defazio of Oregon, also said the GSA did not monitor spending at the hotel by state and local public officials that could have violated a separate constitutional provision barring domestic government payments.

The report also faulted the agency for not investigating the origins of a $75 million loan to the hotel, a possible source of conflict between Trump’s private financial interests and his public role as president. The loan, according to the report, came from the Trump family.

A report by the House Oversight and Reform Committee in October said Trump had misled the public on the hotel’s finances. The committee released financial statements showing the hotel lost more than $70 million while he was president.