Did Trump's hotel concede his defeat?

Dec 28, 2020

Inauguration week no longer blocked off on reservation calendar—but rooms around Trump-endorsed rally have spiked to $3,600 a night

After having been blocked off on the reservation calendar for six months, over this past weekend rooms at the Trump Hotel D.C. became available to book the week of the presidential inauguration.

Jan. 16–20, 2021 had been X’d out on the Trump Hotel D.C.’s reservation calendar since at least early June 2020, as 1100 Pennsylvania reported at the time.

Representatives from the Trump Organization did not reply to 1100 Pennsylvania’s inquiry (as is their custom) about the sudden availability of rooms around the inauguration. In May 2019, however, the hotel’s managing director Mickael Damelincourt, called it “#ignorance” to think guests booked the Trump Hotel D.C. for reasons other than its quality.

The lowest rates at the newly available rooms at the Trump Hotel D.C. for the five days surrounding Joseph R. Biden Jr’s inauguration range from $886 to $2,225 a night.

Meanwhile, the lowest room rates at the Trump Hotel D.C. for Jan. 5–6, 2021 have spiked to more than $3,600 a night. The hotel’s majority owner, President Donald J. Trump, has teased an event in D.C. on Jan. 6 (Twitter banter says it’s a rally)—the day the Electoral College votes are counted in Congress.

Incoming Trump Hotel D.C. landlord calls for unity and healing

On Jan. 20, with the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, the Trump Hotel D.C. gets a new landlord (refresher: the hotel is in the Old Post Office, which the Trumps rent from the U.S. government with the General Services Administration overseeing the lease).

Also on Jan. 20, the owner of the Trump Hotel D.C. loses his authority over an Executive Branch that often has been noncompliant with Freedom of Information Act requests regarding government spending at Trump properties.

As for whether or not taxpayers can expect a Biden administration to provide a full accounting of Trumps self-dealing, on Sunday the president-elect struck a lenient and lax tone.

President made his 92nd visit to a Trump property since the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset

Trump has continued his stay at Mar-a-Lago, while also golfing at his Palm Beach course on Friday and Sunday. Per 1100 Pennsylvania’s tally, the president now has called on Trump properties 92 times since Chinese officials first disclosed an outbreak of flu-like symptoms on Dec. 31, 2019 (for multi-night stays, 1100 Pennsylvania counts each day as a visit).

According to Johns Hopkins, COVID-19 has killed 331,115 people in the United States.

Jordan Fabian @Jordanfabian

For the third time in four days after threatening the virus aid bill, President Trump is at his West Palm Beach golf club

Notable sightings

A glimpse of the foreign officials, government employees, politicians, lobbyists, and the like who patronize or appear at Trump businesses. Most people shown here have reasons to want to influence the Trump administration, rely on its good graces for their livelihoods, or should be providing oversight. Additionally, high-profile guests serve as draws for paying customers.

The COO of a government contractor, Curt Carroll of ARGO Systems, wrote that Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson gave him a personal tour of both the National Park Service-managed clock tower that co-locates with the Trump Hotel D.C. and the White House.

From Mar-a-Lago, Trump Victory fundraising chair turned Trump candle spokesperson Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. offered Christmas greetings from their family to yours.

Former National Security Advisor and recent pardon recipient Michael Flynn offered words and love of America that inspired Jim Worthington. He was a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention; served as board chair of the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association for a year; sits on the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition; and lobbied for at least two bills before Congress.

Conservative talk show host and Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr celebrated his daughter’s birthday at the president’s Palm Beach resort.

Reference section

Links to rundowns of developments in the House’s investigations and lawsuits, reference sheets for some of 1100 Pennsylvania’s previous reporting, and articles that provide the background on why all of this matters. The date published or last updated is in parentheses.

Trackers

House investigations (Dec. 22, 2020)
Lawsuits (Dec. 17, 2020)
Breakdown of judges’ rulings by political party of presidents who nominated them (July 13, 2020)
Health inspections (Oct. 6, 2020)
COVID-19 bailouts and charity (Nov. 30, 2020)

Notable hotel customers

Foreign governments with representatives spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.: 33 (Sept. 22, 2020)
Trump cabinet members spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.: 27 of 35 (July 1, 2020)
U.S. Senators who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: 33 of 53 Republicans, one Democrat (Oct. 26, 2020)
House Judiciary members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Seven of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (Sept. 25, 2020)
House Intelligence members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Four of eight Republicans, no Democrats (June 1, 2020)
House Oversight members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Nine of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (Aug. 2, 2020)
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Four out of six Republicans, one Democrat (July 1, 2020)
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) found Trump’s hotels competitive only after Trump’s election (Sept. 12, 2019)
Rudy Giuliani at the Trump Hotel D.C: A retrospective (April 30, 2019)

Summaries

“Stay to play: Inside the sordid history of Trump’s D.C. hotel—And why the president’s prized property could be headed for a reckoning” by your correspondent for Mother Jones (September 2020)
“Power tripping in the swamp: How Trump’s D.C. hotel swallowed Washington
The MAGA social scene is a movable feast, but its dark heart resides within the Old Post Office Building, where the Trump Org operates under a mercenary charter” by your correspondent for Vanity Fair (October 2019)
“Inside the world’s most controversial hotel: The hotel that was expected to take its place among the crown jewels of D.C.’s travel scene has become a magnet for protestors, a West Wing Annex, and—possibly—the center of a constitutional crisis.” by your correspondent for Condé Nast Traveler (May 2018)

Upcoming key dates

Sept. 23, 2019—House Judiciary Committee hearing “Presidential corruption: Emoluments and profiting off the presidency” (postponed, not yet rescheduled)
Dec. 9, 2020—Deadline for exchanging witness lists in the D.C. attorney general’s lawsuit alleging improperly spent nonprofit funds by the Trump Hotel D.C. and Trump’s inaugural committee.
Jan. 20, 2021—Donald Trump will no longer be the president.

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