New York Daily News

Trump’s family failed to report 100 valuable foreign gifts, say Dems

- BY TIM BALK

Former President Donald Trump’s family failed to disclose more than 100 foreign gifts valued above a reporting threshold and collective­ly worth more than $250,000, House Democrats said Friday.

The dazzling haul of gifts, many from foreign leaders, is detailed in a report by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. They include a book set from President Xi Jinping of China, and golf clubs that then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan gave the luxury-loving commander-in-chief.

The 15-page report said Trump also failed to report a $12,000 silk carpet from Uzbekistan’s president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and a $35,000 dagger with an ivory handle from Qatar’s ruler, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

A “larger-than-life” painting of Trump from the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, is also unaccounte­d for, the report said. Some of the gifts, including the portrait, are missing, the Democrats say.

“Committee Democrats are committed to determinin­g the final whereabout­s of these missing big-ticket gifts,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat and the ranking member of the oversight committee.

Raskin added that the report’s findings illuminate the Trump White House’s “brazen disregard for the rule of law and its systematic mishandlin­g of large gifts from foreign government­s.”

Spokespeop­le for Trump did not immediatel­y respond to requests for comment.

The analysis also listed unreported foreign gifts to Trump family members, including Melania Trump, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Kushner received a sword from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, and Ivanka Trump scored a teddy bear valued at $1,200 from Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of Austria, according to the report.

The report said that the discoverie­s raise questions about whether “gifts may have been used by foreign government­s to influence U.S. policy under President Trump” and that the committee was seeking additional records.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States