Ethics Watchdog: Trump is in breach of his D.C. hotel lease
Just moments after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, the ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the General Services Administration. The ethics complaint argues that President Donald Trump is in violation of his lease of the Trump International Hotel.
Donald Trump’s lease agreement with the General Services Administration to run a hotel within the government-owned Old Post Office building in Washington D.C. very specifically states that the lease cannot be held by an elected official. On January 11, Donald Trump held a long-awaited press conference to announce how he would resolve his massive conflicts of interest while in office. However, in his announcement, Trump confirmed that he plans to do almost nothing to resolve the conflicts. Instead, Trump has put his sons in charge of his business operations.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is arguing that now that Donald Trump is an elected official that he is in breach of the lease agreement. And that this should lead to the termination of the lease and the Trump Organization’s removal from the Old Post Office building.
The Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Noah Bookbinder, in the letter sent to the General Services Administration said, “The potential conflicts of interest with regard to President Trump’s company’s lease of the Old Post Office Building are serious and real. President Trump now both owns the lessee, Old Post Office LLC, and controls the lessor, GSA, whose administrator is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the president.”
