Democrats on the House Oversight Committee recently released a 155-page report on Thursday that alleged businesses owned by former President Donald Trump received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments including China, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar while Trump was in office.
Per The Washington Post, the investigation into Trump’s businesses began while the Democrats were the majority party in the House concerned that the continued profits of the businesses would violate the U.S. Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, which prevents federal officials (including presidents) from accepting money or gifts from foreign governments while in office. The probe’s findings reportedly confirmed their suspicions.
It’s worth noting that the biggest spender, as reported by CNN in the video above, was China, whose government spent over $5.5 million at Trump properties while Trump was in office. According to the report:
“These payments were made while these governments were promoting specific foreign policy goals with the Trump Administration and even, at times, with President Trump himself, and as they were requesting specific actions from the United States to advance their own national policy objectives.”
One example of that was a Chinese state-owned bank that had office space in Trump Tower while Trump was president. The Washington Post reported:
“The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of China’s biggest state-owned banks, was among Trump Tower’s largest office tenants during the Trump presidency. The report notes that during Trump’s first year in the White House, several Chinese banks — including ICBC — came under scrutiny for financial ties to North Korea, causing the administration to weigh sanctions against them.
Despite calls from members of his own party to implement maximum pressure against these banks to halt the North Korean nuclear program, “then-President Trump and his Administration did not take any formal action against Trump Tower tenant ICBC,” the report concludes.”
The documents cited in the report also indicated that while Trump had pledged “no new deals” right before taking office in 2017, he did not sever his business ties after taking office.
When Republicans became the majority party at the beginning of 2023, new House Oversight chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) ended the investigation and stopped allowing new evidence.
