Donald Trump must give up his 60-year lease on the Trump Hotel near the White House in D.C., says a law professor who studied the terms of the lease. The building is owned by the federal government and was known as the Old Post Office Building; it was home to federal agencies, such as the Nation Endowment for the Humanities. After it was closed, Trump leased it and turned it into a luxury hotel.
The lease specifically says that no federal official may benefit from the proceeds generated by the building.
NPR reports:
“After Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, he will follow a time-honored tradition and make his way from the U.S. Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Along the way, just a few blocks before he reaches the White House, he’ll pass the Trump International Hotel. The 263-room luxury hotel is becoming the focus of a debate over conflict of interest between Trump and his business dealings.
Trump doesn’t actually own the landmark building, which was once the headquarters of the U.S. Post Office. In 2013, he signed a 60-year lease for the building with the General Services Administration, which helps manage and support federal agencies. The Trump Organization spent upwards of $200 million on renovations and reopened it as a hotel about a month before the Nov. 8 presidential election.
But there’s a hitch, according to Steven Schooner, a government procurement expert who is also a law professor at the George Washington University School of Law. Schooner has studied the 100-plus-page contract and says there’s a clause that clearly states elected officials should have no role in the lease.
The contract between GSA and the Trump Organization specifically says that no elected official of the United States government shall be party to, share in, or benefit from the contract,” he says, citing clause 37.19 of the contract.
That clause reads:
“No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States or the Government of the District of Columbia, shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.”
Schooner says the GSA should terminate the lease before Trump becomes president.
Many potential conflicts
There are a host of reasons to cancel the deal besides the specific language in the contract, according to Schooner. He says foreign diplomats or special-interest groups could book rooms at the Trump International as a way to curry favor with Trump.
Once Trump becomes president, he will effectively be both the tenant and the landlord of the building. The administrator of the GSA, an independent body, is also a political appointee.
So the Trump transition team would be naming the person responsible for the agency that’s managing Trump’s lease. Obviously that’s a problem,” he says.
The Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment.
Will Congress overlook this legal and ethical breach? Will anyone enforce the law?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wonderful report. I hope it is widely read and makes lot of news, stirs up more investigative reporting.
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What about the gov. paying for secret service to have 2 floors of the Trump Tower in NYC? Wouldn’t that follow the same rules?
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The overreach of Trump, and lack of blow back from anyone in Congress, is not fathomable. Does he have so much dirt on every legislator, or does he threaten their well being, that they are so afraid of him that they are willing to sell the rest of us for his approbation?
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Heard this report on the radio driving home. The tone of the professor’s voice gave it an extra punch. Wow. Will the rule of law prevail? (And, what will happen to funding for public radio?)
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JOHN,
I have a bad feeling that Trump will ignore this violation of the law. He seems to operate on the principle that he can do whatever he wants, and if he gets caught, he will fight in court.
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Diane..every day Trump violates the law and yet he is never challenged by authorities. Never saw this happen before…how does he get away with it? And it becomes clear that “just say NO” works for him, repeatedly.
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…as in “no I won’t show my taxes” and no I won’t put my assets into a blind trust”…if he gets away with this self serving behavior, what else can he do without any oversight?
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Another possibility, if this stems from a provision in a contract with the GSA, is that the GSA could agree to modify the contract or waive its rights under this provision. The GSA is an executive agency, so presumably the President has some appointment authority. Interesting stuff if the issue isn’t resolved before Trump’s in office.
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Flerp
What about the lobbyists and foreign leaders who rent the $20,000 a night?
Will that get them a personal meeting with him?
No conflict?
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Trump overwhelms with this stuff. There’s only so many conflicts we can keep in our minds at the same time.
When I look at the Times and see the front page full of headlines about what’s horrible about Trump, I wonder how they’ll be able to keep it up for an entire term. He overwhelms.
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Flerp, he did the same during the campaign. A scandal a day makes it easy to forget the last one.
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I was listening to NPR the other morning after Trump had bizarrely tweeted that he’d won the popular vote. And the radio reporter just said, point blank, something to the effect, “That is false.” Thank, God.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone could come up with a new word (or retool an old phrase) for this process…i.e. the idea of exposing Trump for what he truly is, a threat to our democracy….a high tech political liar. This sort of shorthand might make life a wee bit easier since, apparently, this is a process we’re going to be engaging in for four long, long years.
For example:
“De-Trump the country….defend democracy.” (Graffiti scrawled on one of the last public schools still open in North Carolina, 2019)
“Today Donald Trump ordered protestors jailed without any formal charges. Members of Congress immediately moved to detrump the decision, invoking their powers under Article One..”
“This is a test. For the next 60 seconds this station will conduct a test of the Emergency Detrumping System. This is only a test. Had it been an actual Trump Emergency listeners would be instructed how to invoke the 25th amendment.”
“Yeah, I just had to detrump for a while. I went home, turned off Facebook and Twitter and had a couple beers. I read a few Federalist Papers and fell asleep. Had a great dream it was 1973. I was wearing bell bottoms and the nation actually knew what do about a crazy, power grabbing president….”
I’m not good at inventing language. Though, then again there are so many good ‘ole words already out there that are becoming unexpected parts of our daily lives. like “xenophobia” -DIctionary.com’s new “word of the year”.
Who woulda thunk?
“
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Lies trump truth, but only if there are so many of them that they can’t be checked. By the time they are checked, there are a dozen more.
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Since the GOP holds the majority in both Houses of Congress, it will be the Republicans that have the deciding votes to overlook and ignore this legal and ethical breach.
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People, lawyers included, still don’t get it: Donald Trump is not going to worry about the laws, as he believes they do not apply to him. That’s what’s so scary about his election to the presidency! For the first time in my life, I feel that we will have a leader who is fully capable of destroying our democracy. The “deplorables” surely voted against their own interests and ours as well. Only divine intervention (or luck) can save us.
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Linda, Donald Trump thinks he is above the law. He told the NY Times that he could run his business and run the country at the same time. He really doesn’t care about “conflicts of interest.” He will collect billions as other countries seek to curry favor by clearing the way for Trump hotels, Trump golf courses, Trump casinos.
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Well, I will be 75 on Thursday, so I guess I won’t suffer for too many years, but oh, our grandchildren!
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Linda,
I have new determination to stay healthy. Take vitamins, get some exercise, etc., because I want to be here when Trump gets bounced from the White House. I am 78.
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I’ll take your advice. I want to be around to see it too and I want the people who voted for him to know what they’ve done.
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Happy Birthday Linda…stay well and activist…but not so much that it makes your BP rise.
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Thanks, Ellen!
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¡Feliz cumpleaños!
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It’s pretty clear; Trump has to give up the Old Post Office lease.
It’s also clear that he has to divest himself from the Trump Organization, or there will be – already are – massive conflicts of interest.
Will Republicans in Congress for his hand? Maybe.
Will Trump keep his campaign promises to be a president for “the people?” Maybe.
His incessant tweeting and the content of those tweets, and the appointments he’s made to his administration are not very encouraging. At all.
The rubes got duped, and we’re all in deep doo-doo now.
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Democracy,
The odds are that Trump will do with his many businesses what he did with his tax returns. Nothing. He will continue to hold the lease and oversee his business. Foreign officials will clear the way to expand his empire. Who will say no to the president?
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I doubt that Jeff Sessions will pursue the conflicts of interest and neither the House of Senate will have the votes needed to do so either. Given the political realities I’m afraid things will have to get bad for the Trump supporters before they will be able to hear the message of the Democrat party and the Democrat party will need to offer a message that is closer to that offered by the Sanders-Warren wing… And watch out for Cuomo and Booker, both of whom are hoping to cast themselves as “liberal” alternatives to Mr. Trump. Their records on public schools belie their liberal credentials…
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Trump just tweeted that he would devote all his time to the presidency, not to business. I assume the business will remain with his children and that’s a conflict of interest too. Even the Wall Street Journal urged him to sell his business to eliminate any conflict.
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You are thinking short term . I could care less about his short term gains from renting a few rooms here and there . Donald Trump is not in this for the chump change he will gain off a few Business Dealings. Just like Gates and the Billionaire Philanthropists are not in it for the chump change to be gained from privatizing public schools or selling computer programs. Chump change is for little people like Hillary and Bill. Barack having a higher moral compass hasn’t parleyed it into personal wealth, yet! But there is little doubt that influence was purchased with donations to the party coffers. Where policy far more damaging to the American people is the end result.
While we spend our time focusing on the petty issues of who rents a hotel room . The real theft is being set in motion. That theft will occur with the assistance of the entire Republican establishment. Anxious to bury the legacy of their only great leader in a century. You can expect the “DEATH TAX” to disappear. Corporate income taxes will be cut with an ax . A tax holiday to steal the 3 trillion un-taxed sitting overseas waiting for a tax holiday. Top marginal rates to be cut. Will the Democrats oppose ,hardly likely.
Organized labor will be put into the meat grinder and with that the standard of living of what is left of the middle class. Forget the fight for $15. Too much money to be made by keeping the workers at his hotels on poverty wages.. Regulations almost all of it aimed at the health and safety of the American people ,be it physical or financial, will be cut. They interfere with profits .
But he is brilliant ,far more so than POTUS . Already he has cut his first deal . He will save those jobs at Carrier . May lose a million more elsewhere, but all that will be remembered is that he saved Carrier . Just like Barrack came to the aid of those teachers in Wisconsin . That must have been a senior moment . Or a Trumpian moment it only happened in my head .
Barack will always be remembered by me for visiting union busting Caterpillar just months into his administration and making sure Wall Street got their bonuses off the public dole.
But Trump just did exactly what Sanders said he would do. Use the purchasing power of US government procurement to pressure employers to build here. Was it the threat of using the Bully Pulpit to attack their name brand or was it the defense contracts that could be steered to parent company United Technologies. Four years from now they can move to Mexico.
His biggest threat is not chump change it is policy and I don’t think he cares about a second term.
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Excellent analysis, Joel. Right on the money.
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Selling his business might be too complex and any gains could be offset due to debts that will have to be paid off. Trump has a long history of using other people’s money to make money. When he doesn’t succeed with a venture, he files bankruptcy while still making money off the losses the banks/partners end up with. It’s possible that Trump’s red ink is larger than the black, debt is more than equity and cash. To sell of the family business might end up turning him and his family into paupers. As long as the cash flows from banks/partners through his ventures, his family can skim off money from the flow to support their lavish lifestyles.
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Addendum to Joel assessment…if Trump does not run for a second term, his progeny will be in place to run. Yvanka, Jared Kushner, or his puppeteer, Bannon.
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“He will save those jobs at Carrier . May lose a million more elsewhere, but all that will be remembered is that he saved Carrier.”
If you believe THETrumpster had anything to do with that decision, well, let me offer you some excellent white sand ocean front beach property located over at the Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri.
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Duane Swacker
No we do not know the details yet ,or I don’t . But states and localities always make deals to entice industry to stay or relocate. . Usually it is a losing deal for the state and they wind up relocating eventually after tax dollars are squandered on corporate welfare. From tax breaks, to subsidized power , to acess roads… … . .
Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant. Enough others will . It will be used to leverage good will from the public for the rest of his agenda.
Remember Hillary going after Sanders on the 2007 Immigration bill .The fact that Sanders position was Backed by LULAC the largest Hispanic organization in the country and the AFL-CIO was not going to be remembered, by most Hispanic primary voters.
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Joel…LULAC felt certain their people would be voting for Hillary, and they would flock to the polls for fear of Trump…did not happen. Shockingly they stayed home, as did the 18 – 26 year olds. These two groups wanted Bernie…and decided it was not worth voting for the Dem offered them. An awful lesson to us all.
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Why vote when the polls kept saying the odds heavily favored Hillary to vote. I wonder how many of those registered voters who didn’t vote were called by polls and said they were voting against Trump and then decided not to vote because they thought Hillary couldn’t lose. The polls misled the voters.
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Has anyone heard or read anything from DeVos on public schools?
The billionaire political operative is aware we have public schools in the United States, correct?
Maybe one of the thousands of people we pay in the federal government could ask her what she plans to do to our schools. I know public schools are unfashionable among the Best and Brightest but this is ridiculous.
The Secretary of Education never mentions public schools except to pronounce them “failing”. What can this mean? Are our schools set to be eradicated? Is she OPPOSED to public schools? Why would I pay thousands of public employees to destroy my son’s school? At some point she’ll have to meet with someone who works in a public school or attends one, as distasteful as that may be to her.
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I hope you are not expecting many in this democratic party to have the integrity to challenge her.
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Her oversight of public schools will look like a slaughter house. Four years of a combination of Kurt Vonnegut and the Turner Diaries ahead for America.
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A law is only a law if someone is willing or able to enforce it. If the lawmakers, and judges lack the will or incentive to hold Trump to some kind of “rule of law”, then fairness, equality, and justice become more and more arbitrary and civil society loses integrity.
There are many countries where the “rule of law” is mostly pretend. How far down this slope will Trump-Culture take us?
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Trump’s Old Post Office lease with government is highly suspect.
But so is his financing of that and other hotels. He owes a lot to Deutsche Bank and “Deutsche Bank is in deep trouble with the Justice Department over a number of allegations.”
This is only the tip of the iceberg.
Will Republicans in Congress do ANYthing about Trump’s massive conflicts of interest? Not likely. But boy, remember all the Benghazi baloney and the Emails! escapades they indulged in?
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/12/01/503903737/trumps-loans-from-troubled-german-bank-pose-conflict-of-interest
Meanwhile, in Charlottesville, VA, a city council member – and teacher, and Virginia Board of Education member – is under fire for some racist and sexist tweets he made as a younger man (he’s now thirty). He was “outed” by a local blogger who has been accused of being ‘alt-right.’ You can red about it here (the comments are interesting):
http://www.c-ville.com/tweetstorm-bellamy-apologizes-inappropriate-posts/#.WEAPU6IrJYg
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The Rule of Thumb when it comes To Trump: Anything he accuses others of doing, he is doing 100 times more than they could ever dream of. The reason he accuses others is to manipulate the media and shift the spotlight from every focusing on what he’s doing.
For instance, when he alleged that Hillary was crooked, it takes an expert to make someone else look crooked even if they aren’t, and Trump is the expert of experts when it comes to being a con-man and thief.
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