REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Trump's conflicts of interests: Govt officials visited his personal properties nearly 2,000 times, says report

This just makes us think: Are Trump’s actions solely propelled by the best interests of the American people or by his own financial ones?
PUBLISHED AUG 3, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

While President Donald Trump has many allegations stacked up against him, one of the most prominent ones among them has been potential conflicts of interest. The maverick president has not dumped the businessman in him even after entering the White House and hence, every action and policy decision that his administration makes faces the inevitable question: Are Trump’s actions solely propelled by the best interests of the American people or by his own financial ones?

Trump's many conflicts of interests

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonpartisan government watchdog body, has been keeping track of Trump's decision to not divest from the Trump Organization. Under the scope of this potential conflicts of interests comes: visits by domestic and foreign government officials and the president himself to Trump properties; events that political bodies, foreign governments and groups linked to them hold at Trump properties, mainly to gain influence on the current administration; interactions between foreign and domestic governments and officials of the Trump Organization that defy any kind of categorization; Trump and other White House officials promoting Trump organization properties by mentioning their names in official statements or on social media and other nations giving preliminary or final approval to trademarks to Trump businesses since the GOP leader took over as the commander-in-chief in January 2017. 

CREW findings

CREW analyzed public information gathered through Freedom of Information Act requests, news reports, social media updates and other similar sources to reveal the figures under each of the five criteria cited above (updated as on August 2).

Visits to Trump properties

According to CREW’s findings, there have been 1,928 instances of visits to the president’s properties by government officials. While Trump himself has given The Trump Organization big publicity at the expense of the taxpayers’ money, his political friends in Congress have not discouraged the practice either. They have also frequently taken part in events and fundraisers that have only added to the president’s personal coffers. Foreign governments and special interest groups have also bought the trend hoping that by promoting Trump’s properties, they would find it easier to get access to top lawmakers and officials in the current administration. 

While the president himself has visited his properties 490 times so far in his tenure, he has made 291 visits to the gold properties and six to the international ones. He has visited his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida the most number of times — 134 — while the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC has seen the most number of footfalls of other executive branch officials (500 times), Congress members (262) and foreign government officials (124). This hotel has seen the most number of visits in all (916) while Mar-a-Lago is the second-most visited property (385). Trump has also made a lot of visits to his golf centers in New Jersey (97), West Palm Beach, Florida (92) and Virginia (89). The property that saw Trump visiting it the least is Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago where he has gone only once. 

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner (Getty Images)

Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has paid the most number of visits (39) to the former’s properties as a member of the executive branch. His wife Ivanka, who is also a senior presidential adviser, is the second with 31 visits and the duo is ahead of Vice President Mike Pence who has gone to the president’s properties 31 times. As members of the Congress, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee Lindsey Graham has visited Trump’s properties the most number of times (27) followed by Kentucky GOP Senator Rand Paul (17). House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is the third with 16 visits. 

Promotion of Trump properties

President Trump has promoted his personal businesses 321 times while in office, CREW has shown. He has promoted his golf courses 91 times — the most — and the Trump Tower 73 times. He promoted his Mar-a-Lago property 47 times and reality television program ‘The Apprentice’ has been promoted 44 times. The president has not shied away from mentioning his properties’ name even when making official comments. The White House staff members have followed suit by praising the leader’s luxury properties in public.
Going by the years, 2019 saw the most number of times that Trump and his White House aides promoted the former’s properties. It was done 184 times last year (47 times by the president, 137 times by his officials) while 2018 saw the second-most number (94). The current year has seen it 74 times already, 15 times more than that registered in the first year of Trump in office. 

The White House officials have promoted Trump's properties 411 times so far. Among the properties that they have promoted most times is Mar-a-Lago (51). With the president himself having promoted it 47 times, the total number of times this property has been promoted is 98. The next property that the officials have promoted the most number of times (12) is Trump National Doral in Miami and the third (nine) in the list is Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland. In September last year, Pence sparked criticism while staying in the Ireland hotel during his trip to that country despite it being located 180 miles away from his meetings in Dublin. Pence was accused of enriching his political boss while holding a public office. Even the American military has been accused of facilitating the president's businesses by making service members stay at his expensive resort in Scotland.

Holding events at his properties

Just like the widespread visits and promotions, holding events at the Trump properties has also been a frequent exercise in the Trump era. Almost every influence-seeking party —- be it political groups, special interest groups, foreign governments and entities linked to them — has organized programs at those centers to promote ties with the administration and Trump personally. Those properties were never considered among the top hosts of political programs but after the businessman-politician came to power, they have emerged as hot destinations. Countries like Romania and Kuwait have shifted events to Trump properties since his election. While the special interest groups have organized 128 events, political groups have organized 85 of them and other countries and entities connected to them have hosted 13. 

President Donald Trump hosted his Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro at his Mar-a-Lago resort in March this year (Getty Images)

In terms of attendance, 96 members of Congress have participated in political events held at Trump properties followed by 48 administrative officials. Trump himself has taken part in 30 political events that were held at his properties. Sixty-one administrative officials have attended special-interest events held at the president’s personal venues, followed by 32 members of the Congress. 

Foreign conflicts of interests

Since Trump took oath as the 45th president, several countries have tried to get close with him through actions benefiting the former’s businesses. According to the CREW report, 141 foreign officials from 75 foreign governments have paid visits to Trump’s properties since his coming to the office. Eight governments have sponsored 13 events at those properties. Even a country like China, which is not known for having the best of terms with the Trump administration, has given The Trump Organization valuable trademarks that were not being done for years before he came to power. Last year, Trump even announced that his National Doral resort would host this year’s G7 summit but after facing a backlash, he withdrew the move. 

If the country-wise break-up is seen, one would witness China topping the list of nations with the most number of conflicts of interests. The Asian powerhouse has given Trump’s businesses 46 trademarks and with other instances, the number is 57. Turkey comes second with 20 instances of conflicts of interests (including 15 visits and four events) while Japan and Scotland are third with 16 instances.

RELATED TOPICS FLORIDA NEWS NEW JERSEY (NJ) NEWS
POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW