LePage's hotel expenses may be revealed soon
LePage's hotel expenses may be revealed soon
Welcome to 1100 Pennsylvania, a newsletter devoted to President Donald Trump’s Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. (and his other companies). President Trump, of course, still owns his businesses and can profit from them.
If you like what you see, tell someone—and support this work by paying for a subscription. If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, subscribe for yourself at zacheverson.substack.com. Tips or feedback? Contact me, Zach Everson, securely via email at 1100Pennsylvania@protonmail.com or on Signal at 202.804.2744.
Maine may release documents related to LePage’s taxpayer-funded hotel stay
From “Taxpayer cost of LePage’s stay at Trump hotel to finally be released?” by Colin Woodard for The Press Herald:
Throughout its final 22 months in office, the [Maine] governor’s office failed to comply with a public records request from the Portland Press Herald for receipts and other documentation connected with [Paul] LePage’s taxpayer-funded stay at the Trump International Hotel. LePage’s use of the hotel has been repeatedly cited by a federal judge in connection with a lawsuit alleging Trump is violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which forbids a president from profiting from foreign, federal or state governments…
With the change in administrations, the information will likely be released soon, as the new Democratic administration of Gov. Janet Mills now has responsibility for fulfilling the requests and has little incentive to delay release of her predecessor’s travel expense information.
In addition to the stay in question, LePage has been spotted at the president’s hotel two other times:
Visitors dying at National Parks during shutdown while rangers staff Old Post Office
Rep. Don Beyer (D–VA) noted that while people where dying in National Parks during the government shutdown, the National Park Service is able to keep the Old Post Office tower staffed.
The Spa by Ivanka Trump’s Instagram page disappeared
Three weeks after it launched, The Spa by Ivanka Trump’s Instagram page is no more. 1100 Pennsylvania first reported about the page’s existence on Dec. 19. By the following day, its sole post was removed. Now the account is kaput altogether.
Ivanka has taken a leave of absence from the Trump Organization and no longer has any connection to the spa, according to a spokesperson. Her ownership stake in the D.C. hotel, however, paid her $2.4 million from its opening to June 2017.
The D.C. hotel’s managing director, Mickael Damelincourt, and spokespeople for both the Trump Organization and its D.C. hotel have not replied to emails asking to verify the Instagram account’s authenticity and, why it is no more.
Allen County, Indiana GOP party chairman stayed at Trump Hotel
And how do we know that? Because the chairman, Steve Shine, let his local newspaper, The Journal Gazette, know that Trump Hotel was still carrying chocolates from area confectioner DeBrand Fine Chocolates.
Also in the article: Shine was staying in the president’s hotel while in D.C. to attend the swearing in of the vice-president’s brother, Greg Pence, as a member of Congress. (Pence’s campaign spent $22,924.80 at Trump properties.)
Noteworthy sightings
Politico Playbook spotted acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney dining with former chief of staff Reince Preibus at their current and former boss’s hotel.
FDA staffer Israel Joffee enjoyed drinks with Rabia Kazan, president of the Middle Eastern Women’s Coalition, and Alice Butler-Short, founder of Virginia Women for Trump.
A staffer on Utah attorney general Sean Reyes’s (R) executive team, Becca Olea, rang in the new year at the hotel and ran into Sen. Bill Cassidy’s (R–LA) press assistant Milly Lothian. Olea celebrated Christmas there as well.
Fox News pundit and Trump campaign advisor Harlan Hill was back at the hotel, posing here with Kazan.
The Hill’s Buck Sexton found solace from the swamp in a hotel the U.S. president owns and can profit from, which is located in a building the U.S. government owns.
Cheyenne Foster, a senior associate at Axiom Strategies—“a full-service political consulting, public affairs, and public relations firm”—dined at the hotel.
New campaign expenditures
Win in 2018, a joint-fundraising committee for 14 state Republican parties, spent $7,154.88 at the president’s hotel on catering and facility rental over two dates in October and November 2018.
Legal cases, current status (latest change, Jan. 7, 2019)
D.C. and MD attorneys general’s emoluments lawsuit (district court docket, appellate court docket)—
UPDATED Official capacity—On Dec. 20, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it would hear the president’s appeal of district court rulings that allowed the case to proceed to discovery, and the appellate court halted discovery in the case. Oral augments on the appeal are tentatively scheduled for March 19–21, although on Dec. 26 the briefing schedule was suspended until further notice after Trump’s DoJ attorneys asked for a stay because of the federal government shutdown. (Discovery had started Dec. 3 and was scheduled to run through Aug. 2, 2019, with the AGs already having issued 38 subpoenas, including to the Trump Organization; the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, and Treasury and the GSA; and the state of Maine.)
Individual capacity—On Dec. 14, Trump’s personal attorneys appealed the denial of their motion to dismiss the case, also to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. On Dec. 19, the AGs replied to Trump’s motion for a stay pending that appeal by voluntarily dismissing the claims against Trump in his “individual capacity to allow the claims against President Trump in his official capacity to move forward expeditiously.” (The AGs only brought suit against Trump in his individual capacity after the judge suggested they do so.) Trump’s personal attorneys, on Dec. 21, opposed the motion to dismiss at the district level, saying the appeals court now has jurisdiction and accusing the AGs of “gamesmanship.”
196 Democratic senators and representatives’ emoluments lawsuit—On Sept. 28 judge Emmet G. Sullivan ruled that the legislators have standing to sue. Trump’s Justice Department attorneys filed an interlocutory appeal on Oct. 22.
CREW et. al’s emoluments lawsuit—In February, CREW appealed its suit being dismissed for lack of standing to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Oral arguments on that motion were held on Oct. 30.
Cork’s unfair competition lawsuit—Judge Richard J. Leon dismissed the case on Nov. 26, writing “Cork has failed to state a claim for unfair competition under D.C. law.” On Dec. 10, Cork’s attorneys filed a notice of appeal.
Employees’ class-action suit alleging racial discrimination—A status hearing on arbitration is scheduled for Jan. 25, 2019.
Health inspections, current status (latest change, Aug. 10, 2018)
❌Hotel: five violations on May 7, 2018; two were corrected on site
❌BLT Prime and Benjamin Bar: nine violations on Aug. 10, 2018
❌Sushi Nakazawa: two violations on Aug. 10, 2018
✔️Banquet kitchen: no violations on Aug. 10, 2018
❌Pastry kitchen: two violations on Aug. 10, 2018
✔️Gift shop: no violations on May 7, 2018
❌Employee kitchen and in-room dining: five violations on Aug. 10, 2018; two were corrected on site
Other Trump Organization news
“House Democrats prepare fusillade of Trump investigations: Trump Hotel, taxes, cabinet members are all targets.” By Adam Cancryn for Politico.
“House /will open up money-laundering inquiry’ into Trump-Russia ties, says key Democrat” by Michael Isikoff for Yahoo News’s Skullduggery
Adult performer Candie Cane released a video of herself urinating on the carpet of a Trump Hotel Chicago room. It may have been politically motivated. (You’re on your own for the link.)
Trump Org EVP Eric Trump did not like The Washington Post’s article on the company’s halted expansion plans.
Eric, however, did enjoy Wendy’s fun smackdown of Mr. Peanut.
One thing that has nothing to do with Trump’s businesses (I think, tough to tell sometimes!)
“Marty Funkhouser is a singular character in American comedy—earnest and petty and mean and kind and dumb—and perhaps the truest expression of Einstein’s famed wit and bitter sense of humor.” By Ian Crouch for The New Yorker.
Thanks for reading. If you like what you saw, tell someone—and support this work by paying for a subscription. If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, subscribe for yourself at zacheverson.substack.com. Tips or feedback? Contact me, Zach Everson, securely via email at 1100Pennsylvania@protonmail.com or on Signal at 202.804.2744.