REUTERS/Carlos Barria
A new report by watchdog group Public Citizen has unveiled dozens of politicians, companies, and entities associated with foreign governments that have paid Trump-branded properties in the past 12 months. Though President Trump kept financial interest in the Trump Organization when he moved into the Oval Office, he famously stepped back from day-to-day operation of the company. The 64 named individuals and entities in the report include a firm connected to Saudi Arabia, which paid a total of $270,000 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington over the course of a high-profile lobbying campaign to overturn a law that allowed terrorism victims to sue foreign governments. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak—and his delegation—stayed at the same hotel in September, and the Republican National Committee has spent $177,104 for parties and fundraising events at the hotel. According to the president of Public Citizen, Robert Weissman, some of the groups mentioned in the report are in all likelihood “trying to gain some leverage with the administration.” He added, “The motive varies from event to event, but a number of these seem clearly for the purposes of ingratiating with the president.”