Trump's revenue from D.C. hotel tops $120 million while in office
2019 was the third straight year Trump’s reported revenue of more than $40 million from D.C. hotel
President Donald J. Trump’s 2019 revenue from just the Trump Hotel D.C. was $40.5 million according to his financial disclosures released Friday night. Trump’s reported a total of more than $121.7 million in revenue from the hotel during his first three years as president.
Meanwhile White House adviser Ivanka Trump’s revenue was $3.9 million from her 7.425 percent stake in the hotel. She’s now reported $11.7 million in revenue from the hotel in the first three years of her leave of absence from the Trump Organization.
While the revenue the duo reported was down slightly from their disclosures for calendar year 2018, it was up a tad from what they reported in 2017. Over the first three years of his term, the president’s reported annual revenue from his D.C. hotel has been consistent, falling between $40.4 million and $40.8 million.
Trump reported revenue rather than profit, so it’s not clear if his company made a profit or a loss.
The president owns 76.725 percent of the Trump Hotel D.C. through a trust that is revocable, not blind, and allows for withdrawals whenever Trump wants, as Derek Kravitz and Al Shaw reported for ProPublica in 2017. The president estimated his stake in the hotel is worth more than $50 million, while his daughter values her position between $5 million and $25 million.
Overall, the president’s forms showed his company had “at least $446 million in revenue in 2019” reported David A. Fahrenthold and Joshua Partlow of The Washington Post. And according to the Post’s analysis, “The forms show that, in 2019, Trump’s hotels saw revenue increase by about 2 percent, and his clubs reported about a 5 percent increase over 2018.”
TrumpStore.com—which, among many other products, sells merchandise displaying the White House alongside the Trump Hotel D.C.—reported more than $930,000 in income, an increase of 79 percent from 2018.
17 GOP lawmakers helped mobilize Christians for battle last week at the Trump Hotel D.C.
With the United States in the midst of a pandemic that’s killed 150,000 Americans and left 17 million unemployed, at least 17 GOP Senators and Representatives made it to the Trump Hotel D.C. last Monday and Tuesday for “an action conference to preserve and restore the rule of law, free-market economics, and Judeo-Christian principles.”
One current White House adviser, Peter Navarro, also graced the stage at his boss’s hotel.
The Freedom Summit was sponsored by The Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty, a Liberty University-affiliated group with “the purpose of educating, inspiring, and mobilizing Christians in the battle to preserve American liberty.” University president Jerry Falwell Jr. and Turning Point USA head Charlie Kirk founded the center in 2019 and named it after themselves.
While Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) was listed on the summit’s schedule as a possible guest at a Monday afternoon media event—two days before he was diagnosed with COVID-19—it does not appear he attended the event.
Government officials at the summit largely discussed the threat China poses to the United States, reported Rob Crilly for The Washington Examiner.
Attendance was restricted because of COVID-19. So while the presence of GOP luminaries couldn’t have done much to boost ticket sales, these officials still served as the roster for one of the president’s paying customers.
And while the stage was set up to accommodate social distancing, best practices weren’t followed elsewhere.
Notable participants and attendees included
Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Tom Cotton (R-AR) [both shown in last Monday’s edition of 1100 Pennsylvania] and Ted Cruz (R–TX)
Reps. Jim Banks (R–IN), Brian Babin (R–TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Ted Budd (R-NC), Michael Cloud (R-TX), Dan Crenshaw (R–TX), Warren Davidson (R-OH), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Mark Green (R-TN), Jody Hice (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Scott Perry (R-PA), Randy Weber (R-TX), and Ted Yoho (R-FL) along with former representatives Dave Bratt and Nan Hayworth
White House advisers emeriti Steve Bannon and Seb Gorka
Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis
George State Rep. Vernon Jones (D), who also visited the hotel owner’s office and residence while in town
Prominent Trump supporters Kirk, David Harris Jr., and former NFL player Jack Brewer
Conservative media personalities Eric Bolling of Blaze TV and the Trump Hotel D.C.s bar, anchor of America’s Voice News and Mar-a-Lago member Gina Loudon (another Trump property regular), and radio host Joe Piscopo
Former reality show contestants Erin Elmore from The Apprentice and The Bachelor’s Jillian Alexis
Trump made his 40th and 41st visits to his businesses since China reported what’s now known as the coronavirus
Trump golfed at his Sterling, Virginia course on Saturday and Sunday this weekend.
The president now has made 41 visits to Trump businesses since Chinese officials reported a cluster of cases of acute respiratory illness on Dec. 31, 2019.
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.
Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and GOP candidate for U.S. Senate in Alabama, Tommy Tuberville went maskless. Tuberville, in town to fundraise, was in defiance of D.C.’s quarantine order, reported Colby Itkowitz for The Washington Post.
General Services Administration speechwriter David Keltz plugged a burger sold at a hotel that’s a tenant of his employer and owned by the head of the executive branch.
Lobbyist Mark R. Smith of the Da Vinci Group, was back where he belongs.
Other Trump Organization news
“‘I just don’t get it’: Republicans balk at funding F.B.I. building in virus bill” by Katie Rogers and Emily Cochrane for The New York Times
“Deutsche Bank opens review into personal banker to Trump and Kushner” by Jesse Drucker and David Enrich for The New York Times
“Editorial: Trump's brazen emoluments violations merit House censure” by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s editorial board
On Friday, a judge granted Cameron Dorsey’s motion to amend her complaint against the Trump Hotel D.C. to include information detailing previous alleged incidents of glass from sabered champagne bottles hitting guests.
“Undocumented housekeeper who worked at Trump property could face deportation” by Miriam Jordan for The New York Times
“Trump postpones fundraiser at his Doral resort as Tropical Storm Isaias nears Florida” by David Smiley and Francesca Chambers for The Miami Herald
“Trump’s properties: A playground for white nationalists, Groypers and other far-right loons” by Roger Sollenberger for Salon
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 (July 21, 2020)
Lawsuits (July 14, 2020)
Breakdown of judges’ rulings by political party of presidents who nominated them (July 13, 2020)
Health inspections (Jan. 27, 2020)
COVID-19 bailouts and charity (July 13, 2020)
Notable hotel customers
Foreign governments with representatives spotted at the Trump Hotel D.C.: 31 (March 4, 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 (Feb. 21, 2020)
House Judiciary members who’ve supported the Trump Hotel D.C.: Seven of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (April 21, 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
25 unimpeachable examples of Trump profiting from his hotel: Foreign governments, Trump administration, GOP lawmakers, industry all have called on the Trump Hotel D.C. since its owner became president (Sept. 27, 2019)
“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)
27 times Trump’s promoted his businesses on Twitter while president (May 12, 2020)
Upcoming key dates
Sept. 23, 2019—House Judiciary Committee hearing “Presidential corruption: Emoluments and profiting off the presidency” (postponed, not yet rescheduled)
Aug. 10, 2020—Scheduling conference before D.C. Superior Court in D.C. attorney general’s lawsuit alleging improperly spent nonprofit funds by the Trump Hotel D.C. and Trump’s inaugural committee
Aug. 25, 2020—Discovery requests are due in a one-time Trump appointee’s lawsuit against the Trump Hotel D.C., alleging a glass from a sabered bottle of champagne left a gash in her chin
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