Trump Failing to Track Foreign Cash at His Hotels

[GMDino]

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-failing-track-foreign-cash-his-hotels-n764061

Quote:Just before taking office, President Donald Trump promised to donate all profits earned from foreign governments back to the U.S. Treasury.


But MSNBC has learned the Trump Organization is not tracking all possible payments it receives from foreign governments, according to new admissions by Trump representatives. By failing to track foreign payments it receives, the company will be hard-pressed to meet
Trump's pledge to donate foreign profits and could even increase its legal exposure.

Read the Trump Organization foreign profits pamphlet here

The Trump Organization does not "attempt to identify individual travelers who have not specifically identified themselves as being a representative of a foreign government entity," according to a new company pamphlet. The policy suggests that it is up to foreign governments, not Trump hotels, to determine whether they self-report their business.
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That policy matches what several sources told MSNBC — Trump Organization employees are not soliciting information about whether reservations or business is from a foreign government.

Why foreign profits could be a problem for Trump

Since Trump's election, critics have argued that the complex nature of his businesses opened up vast potential for conflicts of interest both at home and abroad. Of particular concern was the likelihood of foreign governments spending money at Trump properties. The Emoluments Clause in the U.S. Constitution bars foreign gifts to the president, and an open federal case in New York alleges the Trump Organization is in violation of that clause.

Back in January, Trump and his team said they did not believe renting a hotel room constituted a violation. Still, Trump pledged to track and donate all profits at his companies from foreign government travel and commerce.
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Donald Trump speaks alongside his adult children during the grand opening of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC on October 26, 2016. Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images file

Sheri Dillon, an attorney for the Trump Organization, said during a news conference the president-elect had directed that hotel [url=https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3280261/MLB-White-Paper-1-10-Pm.pdf%20]profits from foreign governments would be donated to the U.S. Treasury because "he wants to do more than what the Constitution requires."

"President-elect Trump has decided, and we are announcing today, that he is going to voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments to his hotels to the United States Treasury," she said.

According to the new pamphlet, the Trump Organization does not plan to calculate foreign government profits, but rather to estimate them.

"To attempt to individually track and distinctly attribute certain business-related costs as specifically identifiable to a particular customer group is not practical," the pamphlet states.

Who could have known that doing what you said you would do would be so hard?

Or that Trump never really was going to do it but he knew his followers and (non)supporters would believe him and defend him because he SAID he would do it.

#MAGA