The Trumps are ‘in talks’ to buy back their beloved D.C. hotel
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Trump’s family company is looking to operate a hotel in the nation’s capital as president-elect once again prepares to enter White House. The Trump family is in talks to reacquire their Washington D.C. hotel, which could reveal how the president-elect is set to handle issues related to possible conflicts of interest.
Eric Trump is an executive vice president at the president-elect’s real estate company, and he discussed possibly buying the lease. What was the Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office building is now the Waldorf Astoria. The building is owned by the federal government and was leased to the Trump family.
Trump opened the hotel the same year that he was initially elected to the presidency in 2016. He sold the lease in 2022 for $375 million. The family company is now looking to operate a hotel in the nation’s capital as Trump once again prepares to enter the White House. The family is still interested in the Old Post Office Building, according to The Journal.
Getting the rights to the hotel back could cost more than $300 million, the paper noted. Democrats argued during his first term that Trump’s stake in the hotel violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause, a constitutional provision forbidding a president from receiving things of value from foreign or state governments. Critics argued that this would also apply to foreign officials spending large amounts of money on Trump hotel rooms, the hotel’s restaurant, and room service.
At the time, The Trump Organization said that it didn’t market the hotel to foreign officials and that it handed a check to the Treasury Department for the funds made from guests representing foreign governments. But the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia still filed lawsuits in connection to the emoluments clause.
