The U.S. House Oversight Committee is asking the General Services Administration to consider terminating the lease for the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC, before the former president’s business can sell it, in light of allegations that the Trump Organization submitted false financial statements to the federal government.
The Democratic-led committee said false statements or certifications may constitute a breach of the lease of the Old Post Office, the historic, government-owned building the Trump Hotel occupies.
The committee request comes as the Trump Organization stands to make a profit of US$100 million from the sale of the hotel lease to a Miami-based investment group for US$370 million, according to a letter from the panel to the GSA. The agency is reviewing that pending deal.
“No one should be rewarded for providing false or misleading information to the federal government or for seeking to profit off the presidency,” the committee wrote.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump obtained the lease for the hotel years before he came into office.
The committee’s letter also comes days after Trump’s longtime accounting firm Mazars advised that nearly a decade’s worth of the Trump Organization’s financial statements should no longer be relied on and after New York Attorney General Letitia James filed allegations that the business inflated values of certain assets on various financial statements.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and says the investigation is politically motivated.
The committee’s letter makes clear that Trump’s submission of information to the GSA was in 2010, a year earlier than the 10-year set of financial statements Mazars has lost confidence in. But the committee says it has similar concerns to state investigators in New York, who revealed the split between Mazars and the Trump Organization this week. Mazars served as the auditor for the Trump hotel, according to the letter.
“In light of these new revelations, including further evidence that the former President submitted at least one financial statement with possible material misrepresentations to GSA, we request that you consider terminating the Old Post Office Building lease to former President Trump … and end, once-and-for-all, the grave damage this inappropriate lease has done to presidential ethics and integrity in government contracting,” the committee’s letter said.
GSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
