Two more White House staffers to exchange vows at president's hotel

Jun 10, 2020

Trump Hotel D.C. will have hosted wedding celebrations for at least eight Trump administration staffers

Sarah Trevor and William Russell’s story “began in the fall of 2017 while both [were] working at The White House,” their wedding website reads. “Their mutual dedication to their jobs and the long hours of work cultivated a curiosity betwixt the two. It wasn’t until the winter of 2018 that a spark was felt and a flame lit.”

And—like at least six Trump administration staffers before them—that twinkle will mushroom into a pricey wedding celebration at their boss and patron’s D.C. hotel.

By hosting this event, the Trump Hotel D.C. likely will receive tens of thousands of dollars through two people who serve at its owner’s pleasure.

Trevor works in Kellyanne Conway’s office in the White House (according to Conway via Politico), while Russell is a trip director in the executive office of the president per LinkedIn. Through their presidential appointments, the couple is paid more than $130,000 combined annually by U.S. taxpayers, reports ProPublica and Columbia Journalism Investigations’ Trump Town database.

Other Trump staffers known to have celebrated their nuptials at the Trump Hotel D.C. are

then-assistant to the president Omarosa Manigault Newman
White House policy advisor Emily Newman
special assistant to the vice president Zach Bauer and senior policy advisor at the Federal Housing Finance Agency Meghan Patenaude
special assistant to the president Stephen Miller and Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary Katie Rose Waldman (Trump attended and spoke to his assembled customers)

While sufficient information isn’t available to estimate how much money the president’s hotel will take in from Trevor and Russell’s nuptials, 1100 Pennsylvania was able to estimate that Trump Hotel D.C.’s revenue was at least $35,000 for the Bauer and Patenaude celebration.

According to Trevor and Russell’s website, the Trump Hotel D.C.’s Lincoln Library will host a reaffirmation ceremony on Dec. 5 with a formal reception taking place an hour later in the president’s presidential ballroom (COVID-19 seems to have scuppered the pair’s original plan for an April celebration). The Trump Hotel D.C. is also hosting Trevor and Russell’s room block. While it appears a lower rate has been negotiated for wedding guests, it’s not specified (likely because that would be gauche). On the evening of the wedding, however, rooms at the Trump Hotel D.C. start at $556 when booked through its website.

1100 Pennsylvania learned about the wedding via a tip. Trevor, Russell, and White House spokespeople have not replied to inquiries asking why the Trump Hotel D.C. was chosen and if any Trump administration or Trump family members were involved in the booking.

Five Trump businesses announce plans to emerge from COVID-19-related closures

After shuttering because of COVID-19, at least five Trump properties have set June dates for reopening their facilities, according to the venues’ posts on Twitter:

Trump Sterling, Friday
Trump Westchester, this week
Trump Doral, June 18
Trump Philadelphia, June 23
Trump Doonbeg, June 29

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Notable sightings

With the nation dealing with both unrest over racism and the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump made time to invite Fox News’s Jesse Waters and his wife Emma to the Oval Office, reported Olivia Nuzzi of New York Magazine. Jesse has called on Mar-a-Lago at least twice. Trump still owns his private club and can profit from Watters’s visits.

Rebecca Tan of The Washington Post recounted a scene outside the Trump Hotel D.C. on Monday.

Evangelical Lutheran high school Divine Savior Academy held its graduation in Doral’s parking lot. Social distancing best-practices were not followed.

To the delight of many protestors, port-a-potties were set up recently in front of the Trump hotel D.C.

Other Trump Organization news

“Scottish bailout puts Trump’s golf resorts in line for £1m tax rebate” by Severin Carrell and Stephanie Kirchgaessner for The Guardian
“Don Jr.’s Mongolian hunting trip cost $60K more than Secret Service originally admitted” by Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel and Lauren White for government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
“Trump Hotel maid says she was fired for refusing to work Sundays” by Robert Burnson for Bloomberg
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) was with a group of Christian demonstrators as they marched past the Trump Hotel D.C. on Sunday, reported James Hohmann for The Washington Post. Romney is in the minority of GOP Senators, having not been spotted or spending campaign funds at the hotel. (But he did enjoy a memorable meal with Trump at Jean Georges at Trump International New York, while Trump was president-elect.)
On Saturday, Latinos for Black Lives Matter led a protest across the street from Doral’s entrance, reported Andres Viglucci, Jacqueline Charles, David Goodhue, and Joey Flechas for The Miami Herald
“The watchdogs” by Ilya Marritz and Katherine Sullivan for ProPublica and WNYC’s Trump, Inc.
“Ransacking the Republic” by Walter M. Shaub Jr. for The New York Review of Books
“Donald Trump’s corruption is killing Americans” by David Corn for Mother Jones
“Can the Constitution reach Trump’s corruption?” by Jeannie Suk Gersen for The New Yorker

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 (May 15, 2020)
Lawsuits (June 1, 2020)
Breakdown of judges’ rulings by political party of presidents who nominated them (May 14, 2020)
Health inspections (Jan. 27, 2020)
COVID-19 bailouts and charity (June 10, 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.: 26 of 34 (April 15, 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.: Six of 17 Republicans, no Democrats (April 21, 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 five Republicans, one Democrat (April 21, 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)
June or July 2020—Before postponement of oral arguments due to a coronavirus-related closure, Supreme Court decision due on Trump’s appeal of earlier rulings requiring his financial institutions to comply with subpoenas from House Financial Services, Intelligence, and Oversight
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
Oct. 29, 2020—Mediation session in at least a one-time Trump appointee in the Commerce Department’s lawsuit against the Trump Hotel D.C., alleging a shard of glass from a sabered bottle of champagne left a gash in her chin

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