Chinese Expenditure on Trump Properties Exceeded $55 Million During His Presidency, According to Documents
Chinese government and state-controlled entities made the largest payments, totaling over $55 million, at Trump properties during his presidency, as revealed by financial documents cited in a report from House Democrats This surpasses any other known foreign country's spending, highlighting potential conflicts of interest
While Donald Trump was in office, the Chinese government and its state-controlled entities made payments totaling over $5.5 million at properties owned by him, the largest amount known to date from any single foreign country. This information is based on financial documents referenced in a report from House Democrats released Thursday. Among these payments were millions from China's Embassy in the United States, a state-owned Chinese bank accused by the US Justice Department of assisting North Korea in evading sanctions, and a state-owned Chinese air transit company. The House Oversight Committee obtained accounting records from Trump's former accounting firm, Mazars USA.
During the former president's time in the White House, House Democrats reported that China, along with 19 other countries, made payments totaling at least $7.8 million to Trump-owned businesses and properties, including hotels in Washington DC, New York, and Las Vegas. The documents provide more evidence of foreign governments spending money directly at businesses owned by a sitting president, although they do not fully document all foreign payments made to Trump's businesses during his presidency.
Prior to taking office, Trump's lawyer announced that the former president intended to give foreign profits from his hotels to the US Treasury Department. However, the donations made by the Trump Organization in 2017 and 2018 fell significantly short of the estimated foreign payments received by its properties.
Because Trump chose not to divest himself of corporate assets and properties before assuming office, he retained the ability to profit from his various businesses with limited transparency.
The Democrats argue that the newly discovered accounting records bring up concerns about potential attempts to leverage Trump's businesses to influence him during his time in the White House. For instance, they highlight Trump's decision not to impose sanctions on the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which leased property at Trump Tower in New York.
The Chinese banks paid a base rent of $1.9 million as shown in a 2012 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Documents from Mazars also confirm that the bank continued to stay in Trump Tower at least through 2019. In 2016, the Justice Department accused the bank of conspiring with a North Korean bank to evade US sanctions.
However, when Trump assumed office, he chose not to impose sanctions on ICBC, despite the requests from Republican members of Congress to increase financial and diplomatic pressure by targeting additional Chinese banks that engage in business with North Korea, as stated in a report by House Oversight Committee Democrats summarizing the information from the Mazars USA records. In response to inquiries about China's payments to Trump-owned properties, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu informed CNN that "China follows the principle of non-interference in internal affairs and refrains from commenting on matters concerning US domestic politics."
Pengyu emphasized that the Chinese government consistently insists that Chinese companies abide by local laws and regulations when operating overseas. He also stated that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial and opposes the US politicizing these issues. CNN has contacted the Trump Organization for a response.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
