Trump D.C. Hotel Lost $70 Million in Term Despite Foreign Cash

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s Washington hotel lost more than $70 million during his time in the White House, despite receiving millions in payments from foreign governments, according to federal documents released Friday.

The documents “raise new and troubling questions about former President Trump’s lease,” which was managed by the General Services Administration, according to a letter from the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Trump’s International Hotel in Washington received about $3.75 million in payments from foreign governments and benefited from terms that allowed Trump to defer payments for six years on the principal of a $170 million loan from Deutsche Bank AG, according to documents the committee made public Friday.

The Trump Organization described the report as “intentionally misleading, irresponsible and unequivocally false.” Daniel Hunter, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank AG, also took issue with the committee’s letter, saying it “makes several inaccurate statements” about the bank and its loan agreement

Eric Trump, executive vice president of the company, added in a phone interview that the money the hotel received from foreign governments was donated to the U.S. Treasury Department every year. He also said the $70 million loss figure is misleading because it includes depreciation -- “a non-cash accounting principal that has nothing to do with the performance of an asset.” The documents released Friday show depreciation totaled more than $32 million during the period.

The committee, chaired by Democrat Representative Carolyn Maloney of New York, has been investigating the lease for five years. Representative Gerald Connolly, chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations, also signed the letter.

Eric Trump declined to comment on whether the company has found a buyer for the hotel, which was first put on the market in 2019 for $500 million. Eric Trump said “interest in the property is unbelievable.”

The Trump Organization has said it attracted bids north of $350 million that the company rejected. Those who’ve gone public with their offers have cited much lower figures. Brian Friedman, a D.C. real estate investor, said he offered around $160 million. 

Trump himself admitted in 2012 that he paid too much for the property — a promised $200 million to renovate the historic Old Post Office and $3 million in annual base rent. 

The broker handling the sale, Jones Lang LaSalle, quit in January after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, just one mile to the east. Back on the market, the sale is now being led by Newmark.

The D.C. hotel is one piece of Trump’s complicated portfolio of properties, which largely suffered during his presidency, in part because of the pandemic that kept people from going into the office and traveling to hotels. Trump’s net worth is $2.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, down from about $3 billion when he entered office. 

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