Trump enterprise received at the least $7.8 million in international funds throughout presidency -report

By Makini Brice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Companies tied to Republican former U.S. President Donald Trump obtained at the least $7.8 million in international funds from 20 international locations throughout his 4 years within the White Home, Democratic congressional investigators stated Thursday.

U.S. Home of Representatives Oversight Committee Democrats stated the funds detailed within the 156-page report are probably a fraction of the international funds made to Trump and his household throughout his 2017-2021 administration.

“These international locations spent — usually lavishly — on flats and lodge stays at Donald Trump’s properties — personally enriching President Trump whereas he made international coverage choices related to their coverage agendas with far-reaching ramifications for america,” the report stated.

The international locations included China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malaysia.

Trump’s marketing campaign didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Trump, a businessman earlier than his election, broke with U.S. precedent and didn’t divest from his companies or put them right into a blind belief when he took workplace, as a substitute leaving his grownup sons to handle them.

Shortly after Trump was elected to the presidency in 2016, Congress started probing conflicts of pursuits and Trump’s potential violations of the emoluments clause of the U.S. Structure, which bars the acceptance of presents from international states by an individual holding federal elected workplace with out congressional consent.

The investigation led to a prolonged courtroom dispute, which led to a settlement in 2022, at which level Trump’s accounting agency started producing the requested paperwork.

When Republicans took management of the Home early final yr, the committee stopped requiring Trump’s accounting agency to provide paperwork and a U.S. District Courtroom ended the litigation.

The report mentioned 4 properties, lower than 1% of the 558 company entities Trump owned both straight or not directly as president. Trump’s accounting agency didn’t present paperwork relating to at the least 80% of Trump’s enterprise entities, congressional investigators stated.

The report’s launch comes as Trump, 77, seeks to regain the presidency within the 2024 election. He’s the main candidate to safe the Republican nomination and is anticipated to face off in opposition to President Joe Biden, 81, in a rematch of the 2020 marketing campaign.

The committee’s chairman, Republican James Comer, dismissed the report’s findings.

“It’s past parody that Democrats proceed their obsession with former President Trump,” Comer stated in an announcement. “Former President Trump has reliable companies however the Bidens don’t.”

Home Republicans have mounted an impeachment inquiry in opposition to Biden largely centered on his son, Hunter. Republicans allege that Biden and his household improperly profited from coverage actions Biden participated in as vp in 2009-17 and that the Justice Division interfered with an investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes for political functions.

The White Home has denied wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; Enhancing by Scott Malone, Nick Zieminski and Jonathan Oatis)