MORE FOREIGN PROFIT FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP

…President Trump with the Malaysian P.M.

 

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and all his delegates stayed at Washington’s Trump International Hotel

 

As expected, the new president is making more major increases in income for his personal businesses, just because he’s the most powerful human in the world.

 

The latest issue on this has to do with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and his delegation that visited the White House this week.  Trump’s invitation to Prime Minister Najib Razak has drawn scathing criticism because the United States is conducting a probe of the P.M..  In fact, it is its largest “kleptocracy” investigation ever.  It is looking into whether the prime minister diverted more than $1 billion from a Malaysian-government investment fund into his own bank account.

 

Just this week, the US Justice Department began aggressively investigating potential fraud surrounding the fund, known as 1MDB, and they announced in June that prosecutors had filed forfeiture complaints seeking $540 million in assets.  US prosecutors a year earlier had filed similar complaints seeking more than $1 billion in assets that allegedly were ill-gotten gains from an effort by Malaysian officials and their associates.  This included efforts to remove money from a government-owned fund. That means, the total value of assets sought was nearly $1.7 billion, according to the US Justice Department.

 

But for the Trump family, it was the glamorous 263-room luxury hotel in Washington DC on Pennsylvania Avenue that Trump owns, that became the focus of the media last week.

 

Before arriving at the White House to meet with President Trump,  the Malaysian Prime Minister had strode through the golden doors of the elevator at the Trump International Hotel and past the luxury lounge to his waiting motorcade.  The prime minister’s official visit also brought at least 24 hours of activity and major Malaysian expenses to the glamorous Trump hotel.

 

This and future visits are likely to escalate the debate over whether the president is benefiting from the luxury property that has become Washington’s new power center, and, its critics say, is a staging area for those seeking White House access.

 

Signs of the Malaysia delegation’s visit were obvious at the Trump property.  At lunch time, more than a dozen members of Razak’s entourage relaxed in a dining and lounge area reserved only for hotel guests. That evening, they also came and went from the hotel, sometimes returning to the valet stand for holding their multiple shopping bags.

 

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed reporter’s questions about the Malaysian delegation’s stay. “We certainly don’t book their hotel accommodations,” she told the reporters.

 

P.M. Razak departed just before 8 PM in his motorcade as he had a scheduled dinner with a Washington business group.

 

 

The next morning, dozens of the delegation members convened in hotel meeting rooms with name cards on the door bearing the Malaysian coat of arms. Some members had attended a white-tablecloth breakfast in the hotel’s Lincoln Library room.

 

Events of this scale would most likely mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign revenue for the Trump Organization.  (Some rooms are $500 per night.) This is based on confirmed spending totals of other groups that have previously set up camp at the hotel.

 

Trump has come under fire for declining to divest his interest in the hotel, which is now managed by his sons, but it is officially still owned by Trump.  He can easily take the hotel back after his time as US president.  But at this time, his ownership is creating opportunities for foreign governments and special interests to enrich the president, while also seeking changes to US policies.  In Razak’s case, this could all happen in a matter of minutes.

 

Lawsuits from some government watchdog groups and inquiries from the Democratic leaders and governments agencies, including the Government Accountability Office (GAO), are targeting the Trump hotel, which operates in a building leased to his company.  But there is a direct conflict of interest as the building is leased to Trump by the US government.  The same government that Trump as president oversees.

 

Ethics experts, including the one that resigned as Trump's White House Ethics Director, are all citing the Constitution’s "emoluments clause", that do consider foreign government bookings at the hotel unacceptable.

 

But the hotel has hosted events for many foreign entities, as well as multiple lobbying-group events and Republican fundraisers.  The Trump Organization says it does not seek foreign governments as clients, and that it keeps a separate log of their payments.  They say they plan to donate the profits it receives from them to the US treasury at the end of the year.

 

But most experts say that first, it will be almost impossible to keep current this kind of profit tracking as to which are costs that are from foreign governments versus individual or corporate business expenses.  In addition, the IRS has said they have no way of accepting a donation from a private business such as the Trump organization.

In regards to the Justice Department investigation of the Malaysian 1MBD fund, among the items that the US officials have sought to seize are: New York City penthouses, Hollywood and Beverly Hills mansions, a private jet, and even proceeds from some major Hollywood movies.  The original 2016 complaint alleged that more than $730 million of what seemed to be 1MDB money was ultimately routed to the personal bank account of “Malaysian Official 1.”   This is a thinly veiled reference to Razak himself.

 

Razak has said on Facebook that “no crime was committed,” and an investigation by the Malaysian attorney general had determined that the money in Razak’s account was a personal donation from the Saudi royal family.  But there is no real proof of that.

 

Members of Razak’s group repeatedly waved off the reporter’s questions. Inquiries to the Malaysian Embassy and the White House of course, were not returned. 

 

 

Once at the White House, Razak was greeted by Trump, Vice President Pence and the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

 

“It’s great to have the prime minister of Malaysia and his very distinguished delegation with us today,” Trump said, sitting across a conference table from Razak. Trump praised the prime minister for his stance on terrorism and for investing in U.S. businesses.

 

Najib responded by saying he wanted to help “strengthen the U.S. economy” by purchasing Boeing airplanes and engines from General Electric, among other initiatives.

 

But, as usual, so far there is no reason to believe that anything will come from the Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department, the GAO investigation, the attempt to seize the Malaysian items in question and the efforts of the government ethics experts.

 

I would suspect, our only hope is that the Special Counsellor, Bob Mueller’s investigation will find that the Trump organization has obstructed justice, has colluded with the Russians or has serious issues of a conflict of interest, or all of the above.

 

Let’s hope that is Mueller's outcome.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017