Titus investigating Trump lease for Washington hotel

WASHINGTON — Nevada Rep. Dina Titus held a congressional hearing Wednesday to investigate legal and ethical questions surrounding President Donald Trump’s lease of a building that houses his International Hotel.

“Donald Trump promised to drain the swamp and instead he’s built a hotel for swamp creatures right in his backyard,” Titus said.

The House Transportation subcommittee on public buildings, led by Titus, conducted the hearing as the full House has launched an impeachment inquiry into Trump on unrelated matters.

Titus and members of her subcommittee have questioned the arrangement at the Trump International Hotel, which is owned by the president and his family and located inside the Old Post Office building owned by the General Services Administration.

During testimony, the General Services Administration acknowledged the president does profit from the arrangement, but has not conducted a judicial review of the lease.

Justice Department lawyers have argued in legal briefs that the president has not violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution. A Justice Department spokeswoman said the issue needs immediate appellate court review, which the administration has sought.

Republicans on the subcommittee used their questions to point out that the Trump lease of the property was being singled out by Democrats eager to expand their investigations into a president they seek to oust.

Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the subcommittee, noted that constitutional questions surrounding the emoluments clause remain unsettled and are before the courts for clarification.

An inspector general report this year that found that the administration, in overseeing the lease, improperly ignored the emoluments clause, even though the lease itself requires compliance with the laws of the United States, including the Constitution.

The emoluments clause of the Constitution prohibit a U.S. official from receiving gifts, money from foreign governments without congressional approval, and prohibit the president from receiving additional money from taxpayers beyond his salary.

Congressional Democrats assert that Trump is in violation of the clause because he is still an owner of a family business that operates the hotel and has profited from foreign visitors who have used the hotel since he has taken office.

And, Titus said, as head of the executive branch, Trump serves as both landlord and tenant, with his government leasing property to his eponymous company.

Inspector General Carol Ochoa repeated her concerns about the oversight of the lease by the General Services Administration which ignored and disregarded the Constitution when it entered into the deal with the Trump family.

The subcommittee, under Titus, also sought more documents about the lease.

“The American people deserve to know exactly which foreign governments are trying to curry favor with this president by buying hotel rooms — and exactly how much money the president is making from it,” Titus said.

Trump is named in several lawsuits involving the emoluments clause dealing with other properties the family owns, including a Scotland golf course and a course and club in Florida that the president has offered as a site for the G-7 Summit for foreign leaders next year.

Contact Gary Martin at gmartin@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7390. Follow @garymartindc on Twitter.