Congressional Report
How much money Trump made as president from foreign state guests
State guest with a full wallet: Brazil’s then President Jair Bolsonaro (5th from right) with Donald Trump (3rd from right) at his property in Mar-a-Lago in March 2020.
© Imago Images
Donald Trump’s dealings during his presidency have been debated since he moved into the White House. A new report on the Republican’s financial ties abroad reveals astonishing figures.
million dollars from China
Most of the payments – more than five million dollars – came from China, including from the Chinese embassy in the USA and the Chinese state bank ICBC.
“These countries often spent heavily on apartments and hotel stays at Donald Trump’s properties, personally enriching President Trump as he made foreign policy decisions that were related to their political agenda and had far-reaching effects on the United States,” the report said.
Detailed list of Donald Trump’s hotel
It lists payments from individual countries to Trump’s properties and hotels in detail. In addition to donations from China and some larger sums in the six-figure range, from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, it also lists small sums of less than $10,000 from other countries.
The report is based on documents from an accounting firm that long worked for Trump’s companies. The committee fought for the disclosure of the documents in long legal disputes. However, the effort was halted after the transfer of power in the House of Representatives, when Trump’s Republicans took control there.
$7.8 million “just a fraction of Trump’s harvest”
The highest Democrat on the control committee, Jamie Raskin, complained that the documents disclosed so far only provide insight into a few payments – from two years of the Trump presidency and with a view to four of his companies. The $7.8 million was “almost certainly just a fraction of Trump’s harvest of illicit foreign government money.”
Trump wants to run for the Republicans again in the next US presidential election at the beginning of November. In polls, he is currently well ahead of the field of Republican presidential candidates.