[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1915
VIOLATIONS LINGER
(Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, candidate Donald Trump promised he would
drain the swamp. The American people believed him. But instead of
draining the swamp, it has become abundantly clear he is driving his
own pylons deeply into the swamp.
Already, Trump Incorporated is making significant profits off the
President's position. Personal profits aren't what serving the public
is about.
My mother used to ask about the superrich: Do they ever fill up?
In fact, The New York Times Editorial Board wrote a scathing
indictment of Trump Incorporated. I include that article in the Record.
[From the New York Times, Feb. 1, 2017]
White House Inc.
(By the Editorial Board)
As a candidate, President Trump spent contributors' money
for office space that he owned, stays at his resorts and food
at his restaurants. He spent contributors' money on Trump-
branded wine and water. He displayed Trump merchandise at
campaign events. Now he seems determined to milk the
presidency, apparently synonymous with his brand in his eyes,
for a fortune.
``The brand is certainly a hotter brand than it was
before,'' Mr. Trump observed, with satisfaction, shortly
after the election.
Last week, an executive of the Trump Organization, Eric
Danziger, said it would open Trump-branded hotels in the 26
largest metropolitan areas in the country, up from five. The
business, he said, would focus its expansion domestically for
``the next four or eight years.'' The fee to join the Mar-a-
Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., which Mr. Trump calls the
``Winter White House,'' just doubled to $200,000.
This news came less than a week after Mr. Trump and his
inauguration committee hosted parties and other events at the
Trump International Hotel in Washington, in the government-
owned Old Post Office. Even his press secretary, Sean Spicer,
has become a pitchman: ``It's an absolutely stunning hotel,''
he said recently. ``I encourage you to go there if you
haven't been by.''
Self-dealing is such standard procedure for this White
House that a cynic (or satirist) might say it's time to give
in and try to put Mr. Trump's conflicts of interest to work
for the public. Maybe if he had hotels in every nation, he'd
have a financial interest in being less bellicose, and more
supportive of the free flow of trade and of people, even if
they happen to be Mexican or Muslim.
But we really prefer the old-fashioned approach in which
presidents put the public interest ahead of their own
finances. Federal ethics officials have told Mr. Trump that
he should divest his business interests to avoid allegations
of bribery and to assure Americans that their needs are his
only concern. Mr. Trump argues that he can put a ``firewall''
between his businesses and himself by having his eldest sons
manage them. The president and the Trump Organization last
week hired lawyers to keep an eye on the Trumps, a laughable
ploy that doesn't meet ethical or anti-corruption standards
and constitutional requirements.
Mr. Trump has argued that the law permits the president to
keep his business--even though no modern president has done
so, and far poorer ones than he have sold off business
interests to serve. He and his lawyers have played down the
importance of the emoluments clause of the Constitution,
which prohibits government officials from accepting gifts or
income from foreign governments without the approval of
Congress. And he refuses to release his tax returns and
divest his assets and put the proceeds in a blind trust, as
his cabinet nominees are doing right now.
Consider the Trump Hotel. Mr. Trump has a 60-year lease on
the property with the General Services Administration. That
contract states that no elected federal official ``shall be
admitted to any share or part of this lease, or to any
benefit that may arise therefrom.'' That unambiguous clause
exists to prevent corruption and self-dealing by government
officials.
Since Mr. Trump officially violated the lease when he
assumed office, the agency is clearly obligated to cancel the
lease or require that it be sold to another hotel operator.
Ranking Democrats on the House and Senate committees with
jurisdiction over the agency have for weeks been asking it to
address the lease violation. So far, the agency, which
reports to the president, appears to have done nothing. Mr.
Trump's lawyers preposterously contend that because he was
not an elected official when the lease was signed, he hasn't
broken it.
Aside from violating the lease terms, Mr. Trump is very
likely violating the emoluments clause by holding on to the
hotel. His lawyers have said that he will donate profits from
rooms rented to foreign governments to the Treasury, but
that's no cure. Experts say it would be next to impossible to
account for foreign ``profits''--which, of course, would be
based on the hotel's own calculations. Is the hotel prepared
to open its books so the public can judge those numbers for
itself?
Congress ought to demand that the G.S.A. uphold the terms
of the hotel lease and shame Mr. Trump into selling his other
businesses, the fortunes of which are now hitched to the
presidency. Democrats have been trying to do this, but the
Republicans who run the House and Senate have not joined
them. So far, they lack the spine to challenge the president.
Just imagine how they would have reacted if Hillary Clinton
had been elected and the Clinton Foundation were merely
leasing a government building, let alone using it to generate
revenue.
If the agency doesn't act, a competing hotel could sue to
demand that it cancel the lease because the president's
control of the hotel represents unfair competition. The Trump
Hotel has been drawing business away from other hotels,
precisely because its proprietor occupies the White House.
Indeed, the hotel has promoted itself on Twitter with an
image of a man relaxing in one of its rooms, gazing out upon
a building that looks very like the White House (it's
actually the Environmental Protection Agency, which Mr. Trump
campaigned to abolish). Since the election, embassies from
countries that include Bahrain, Kuwait and Azerbaijan have
held receptions at the hotel, and diplomats say it's
important that they be seen patronizing it.
Mr. Trump has boasted that the presidency boosts his brand.
He should focus instead on how his commercial ambition is
tarnishing the image of public service. If he continues to
reduce the most powerful office in the world to a marketing
scheme, ethical public servants, in Congress and across the
government, can't stand by and watch.
Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, it bodes ill for our beloved Republic. Trump
Incorporated appears as if it plans to milk the Presidency with his
enhanced international profile. The Trump Organization is looking to
expand domestic branded hotels in the 26 largest metropolitan areas, up
from five.
At his Mar-a-Lago Club, which the President dubbed the Winter White
House, the club fees just doubled to $200,000. The Trump inaugural
committee hosted parties and other events at the Trump International
Hotel, and his official staff in the West Wing sound like salesmen
endorsing that hotel. All this is with the backdrop of President Trump
refusing to fully divest his company, put his assets in a true blind
trust, or release his tax returns. The question of President Trump's
Emolument Clause violations linger behind every action he takes. It is
time for him to fess up.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from
engaging in personalities toward the President.
____________________