According to a study released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, Donald Trump’s businesses got at least $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments and officials of 20 nations, including China, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, during his presidency.
The study contends that the payments were unlawful under the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution, which forbids federal officials—including the president—from accepting gifts or cash from other nations without Congress’s consent.
When Democrats ruled the House and demanded access to Donald Trump’s financial documents, that clause was central to a drawn-out court dispute. Ultimately, the matter reached the Supreme Court, but a decision on whether or not Trump had unlawfully benefited from his presidency was never made.
The results are the result of a multi-year inquiry conducted by Democrats for the House Oversight Committee.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), stated in the report that former President Trump disregarded the explicit directives of the Constitution as well as the meticulous precedent established and upheld by each previous Commander-in-Chief by prioritizing his own financial interests and corrupt foreign powers’ policy agendas over the interests of the American public.
The investigation took close to seven years; the results are in this report. It claims that while President Donald Trump was in the White House, records and documents collected by House Oversight Democrats uncovered a startling web of payments totaling millions of dollars transferred directly to Trump-owned companies by foreign governments and their representatives.
Mazars was subsequently liberated from its legal responsibility to give pertinent documents to the Democrats’ probe after Republicans took over the committee.
To disprove allegations of corruption or influence peddling, House Democrats emphasized the transactions on Thursday as a counterbalance to Republicans’ impeachment investigation into Mr. Biden.
The investigation aimed to link Mr. Biden to foreign business transactions made by his son Hunter Biden before his father’s election. Thus far, they have not been able to demonstrate how any of those transactions benefited President Biden financially.
Donald Trump might be elected to a second term as president three years later. As the front-runner for the Republican nomination for president, he is ready for a potential rematch with Joe Biden.
According to numerous recent surveys, Biden is losing ground to Trump both nationally and in crucial battleground states.
The legislative inquiry into Trump’s alleged violations of the emoluments clause was terminated by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) when Republicans took control of the House in 2023.
Additionally, he chose not to carry out a court-mandated requirement that Trump’s previous accounting firm, Mazars USA, provide documentation on his financial transactions.
In a statement in response to the news, the Trump Organization stated that foreign revenues made during Trump’s administration were given to the Treasury Department.
It also mentioned that a Chinese tenant of Trump Tower had signed a 20-year lease in 2008, years before Trump’s election. The message further mentioned that reservations made through third-party platforms could not be prevented.
Donald Trump Received The Highest Payment From China Government
According to financial records cited in a report released on Thursday by House Democrats, the Chinese government and its state-controlled organizations spent over $5.5 million on real estate owned by Donald Trump during his administration. This amounts to the largest payments made by any foreign country to date.
A state-owned Chinese bank, a state-owned Chinese air transit company, and the Chinese Embassy in the US all contributed millions of dollars to these transfers. The US Justice Department has accused the Chinese bank of aiding North Korea in evading sanctions.
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