House Democrat bills seek to prohibit any federal spending at Trump businesses

(FILE PHOTO by video screenshot/public domain)

Congressional Democrats are reportedly seeking to prevent the federal government from conducting business with any of President Donald Trump’s his companies, including his hotels and resorts.

“Two annual spending bills House Democrats have brought to the floor to keep the government funded past September include provisions that would prohibit certain federal agencies from entering into contracts with or using taxpayer dollars at Trump businesses, including his hotels, golf courses and condominiums across the globe,” The Hill confirmed on Sunday.

This was reported two days after The Washington Post ran a “report” kvetching about the revenue some of the president’s businesses have generated because of his presidency.

It just so happens that, when away from the White House, Trump often spends time at his lavish resorts. And for some reason the media view this as problematic.

“In all, his scores of trips have brought his private businesses at least $1.6 million in revenue, from federal officials and GOP campaigns who pay to go where Trump goes,” the Post lamented. “They gave Trump valuable marketing opportunities — to showcase his opulent properties on an international stage.”

There appears to be no evidence to suggest that Trump has chosen to stay at his own properties so as to promote them. Furthermore, during his first year in office, then-President Barack Hussein Obama stayed at numerous lavish resorts and hotels, according to TripAdvisor’s Oyster.com:

  • Hay-Adams in Washington, D.C., Jan. 2009
  • InterContinental Montelucia Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley, Arizona, Feb. 2009
  • Hilton Trinidad & Conference Centre in Port of Spain, Trinidad, April 2009
  • Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 2009
  • Ritz-Carlton Moscow in Moscow, Russia, July 2009
  • Holiday Inn in Accra, Ghana, July 2009
  • Waldorf-Astoria and Towers in New York City, New York, Sept. 2009
  • Grand Hotel in Oslo, Norway, Nov. 2009
  • Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai in Shanghai, China, Nov. 2009

That was just during his first year. During a one-day stay at the upscale Brisbane Marriott Hotel five years later, the then-President reportedly spent a whopping $1.7 million.

In the summer of 2016, Judicial Watch reported that the expense bill thus far for all of Obama’s travel-related endeavors was already near $80 million.

The only notable difference between Obama’s resort habits and those of Trump is that because the current president owns a large number of hotels and resorts of his own, he’s been choosing to stay at his own properties reportedly because of convenience.

Take for instance his decision earlier this month to stay at the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland, during his recent trip abroad.convenience.

“We’re going to be staying at Doonbeg in Ireland because it’s convenient and it’s a great place. But it’s convenient,” he reportedly said prior to his trip to Ireland.

Despite this, Reps. Steve Cohen and Jamie Raskin, the Democrats responsible for the amendment that would blacklist Trump’s properties, maintain that the president is doing something wrong.

“The fact is when we stay at his hotels and his properties, he makes money,” Cohen said during a House floor debate last week. “Nobody is supposed to make money from the presidency, directly or indirectly, and they are supposed to report these possibilities to the Congress so we have knowledge.”

Listen:

As a reminder, Cohen is the same Democrat who eats a bucket of chicken during a House Judiciary Committee hearing last month …

The Post’s piece also complained about foreign leaders and dignitaries staying at the president’s hotels and resorts.

The Post specifically fretted that Trump may be “violating a constitutional ban on ’emoluments’ from foreign governments, by doing business with [foreign officials] at his D.C. hotel.”

The problem with this claim is that the Trump Organization has made clear-cut efforts to avoid the appearance of impartiality. Last year, for instance, the organization donated to the Treasury the $100k+ in net profits it’d accrued from foreign leaders and dignitaries staying at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., and the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

Though the media completely ignored Obama’s spending habits, they’ve kept a keen eye on the habits of Trump and his family. A scandal almost erupted during the president’s trip to Ireland earlier this month after The Daily Beast falsely reported that his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had skipped out on a bill at an Irish bar.

After the owners of the bar denied the allegations, the far-left outlet was forced to apologize, not that many were forgiving given how many lies the outlet has told in the past four or so years:

As for Cohen and Raskin’s amendment, it was reportedly adopted along party lines as part of a spending package that the House passed last week. It’s unclear if the package will even make it to the president’s desk.

HERE’S WHAT YOU’RE MISSING …

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Vivek Saxena

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