GSA Urged To Terminate Trump's D.C. Hotel Lease Before $375M Sale
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform is urging the General Services Administration, the real estate arm of the federal government, to terminate former President Donald Trump's lease of the Old Post Office Building in Washington, D.C., which his company redeveloped into a Trump-branded luxury hotel near the White House.
The move comes only a few months after The Trump Organization reportedly reached a deal to sell its rights to the property to investment firm CGI Merchant Group for $375M. Florida-based CGI has partnered with former baseball star Alex Rodriguez on a fund to buy hotels, and Rodriguez is reportedly a partner on the deal to acquire the Pennsylvania Avenue property.
The Trump Organization leased the property, a redevelopment of the landmarked post office pavilion, from the federal government in the years before its founder formally entered politics, and the former president's company has been trying to find a buyer for its rights since before the coronavirus pandemic.
The House Committee on Oversight and Reform previously said that Trump reported losing more than $70M on the hotel during his four years as president. The committee also claimed that Trump's business concealed over $1B in debt when it applied to redevelop the historic property into a luxury hotel.
On Thursday, the committee cited the recent disavowal by Trump's accountancy, Mazars USA, of 10 years' worth of financial statements it prepared for Trump as justification for the termination of the lease by the GSA.
"As part of his bid to win the Old Post Office Building lease, former President Trump submitted three years’ worth of Statements of Financial Condition, all compiled by Mazars, to GSA," Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Rep. Gerald Connolly, who chairs the Subcommittee on Government Operations, both Democrats, wrote in a letter to the GSA.
“In light of these new revelations ... we request that you consider terminating the Old Post Office Building lease to former President Trump and the Trump Organization under the authority provided in Article 27 of the lease.”
