Agency Ignored Constitutional Questions About Trump Hotel Lease, Report Finds

[UpInArms]

Source: New York Times

The federal agency that had leased a prime property in Washington to the Trump Organization failed to grapple fully after the 2016 election with the politically fraught question of whether Donald J. Trump’s victory left the deal in violation of the Constitution, according to an inspector general’s report released on Wednesday.

The inspector general for the agency, the General Services Administration, found that its lawyers agreed that Mr. Trump’s election raised constitutional issues about the Trump Organization’s lease of the building on Pennsylvania Avenue, which was redeveloped as the Trump International Hotel. The lease was signed in 2013 and the hotel opened two weeks before the 2016 election.

But rather than confront head-on after Election Day what to do about the issue — or seek the advice of the Justice Department — the agency ignored it, the report said. Essentially, the General Services Administration decided to “punt,” the report said, quoting a senior agency lawyer, effectively clearing the way for Mr. Trump’s business to continue operating in the heart of the capital.

... snip ...

The Constitution prohibits federal officials from accepting benefits or emoluments from foreign or state governments, but courts have yet to resolve what constitutes an illegal emolument. In the case of the Trump International Hotel, the issue centers on whether money spent by foreign and state governments and other entities derives from Mr. Trump’s role as president and benefits him financially.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/us/politics/trump-hotel-emoluments.html

[TeamPooka]

1. Heck, the agency ignored the contract where it says no elected official can have a finacial interest

Void the contract!
Trump should lose the hotel since he chose President over the contract

[deurbano]

2. I never understood how they allowed that.

[TeamPooka]

5. They have a word for it: corruption.

[burrowowl]

3. Me either

the U$A government is very very corrupt.

[iluvtennis]

6. Yep.

[BigmanPigman]

7. And even more than it normally has been over the past 2 years.

[MBS]

9. GSA in particular is corrupt (even before Trump came on board) and just plain messed up.

It's the only federal agency which I consider to be seriously screwed up.
So it's no surprise to me that they turned a blind eye to this travesty.
(At least the IG finally managed to speak up).

Remember GSA_travel-gate in 2011 or 2012? where GSA spent $800K on a party for staff members in Las Vegas? The ensuing scandal led to a drastic reduction in travel budget for ALL federal agencies. So their perfidy created suffering for other agencies as well.

Then there was the GSA director (not sure if he's still on board) who in 2013 decided to be trendy and eliminate all private offices, so that all of the employees did business on laptops only and they no longer had personal or even consistent desk space and had to "rent" desk space every day when they came to work. I get stressed just thinking about a chaotic working atmosphere like that.

And the GSA is not some "silicon valley" idea-incubator. This is the agency that is essentially in charge of real estate and space assignments for the federal agencies, so there for sure is important information on those laptops.

An article on their 2013 office renovation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-federal-office-space-of-the-future-gsas-new-floor-plan-eschews-desk-jockey-culture/2013/07/15/f7e4f8dc-e975-11e2-8f22-de4bd2a2bd39_story.html?

[dalton99a]

4. Kick

[MurrayDelph]

8. I think the appropriate response

Involves a Conan Doyle character announcing his constipation.