A twelve-story tower, not far from the White House: Donald Trump is about to give up his Washington hotel, where once swarmed lobbyists, donors and foreign governments, all ready to spend a lot in the hope of earning a little influence with the president.
The Trump International Hotel, established in a 19th century buildinge century of neo-Romanesque style, will close its doors.
Built in the 1890s, the 12-story building, a former post office, is the third tallest in the U.S. capital.
Condemned several times to demolition, the building was narrowly saved in 2011 when Donald Trump pledged to invest $ 200 million in its renovation.
The hotel opened in the fall of 2016, a few months before Donald Trump entered the White House.
A huge skylight illuminates the bar where you sip glasses of 140 dollars wine served in Hungarian crystal, before a night in the Franklin Suite, 12,000 dollars, breakfast included.
“It’s a place he’s very proud of,” said Sean Spicer, spokesperson for Donald Trump at his first White House press conference in January 2017. “I think he is representative of the type of administration he is going to lead ”.
” Conflict of interest “
By assuming the presidency, Donald Trump entrusted control of his real estate empire to his two eldest sons, promising not to interfere in the activity of his properties.
In fact, he promoted it at every opportunity and the Trump International Hotel has retained its influence.
During his presidency, 150 officials from 77 foreign countries visited the properties of the Republican billionaire, according to the anti-corruption NGO CREW.
American political groups have spent a total of $ 3 million to organize some 40 events in the hotel in Pennsylvania avenue.
And according to the NGO, influential groups like the American Petroleum Institute have repeatedly organized events in the hotel after meetings at the White House. And many have obtained beneficial political fallout.
Elected on the promise to “clean up the backwater” of Washington, “Donald Trump should never have been allowed to keep his hotel,” denounces the president of CREW, Noah Bookbinder.
Asked about mixing his presidential prerogatives with the promotion of his sprawling real estate empire, Donald Trump defended himself in 2016: “The law is completely on my side, presidents cannot have a conflict of interest.”
$ 70 million in losses
The Trump International Hotel’s survival, however, was short-lived.
A parliamentary inquiry found that the hotel had lost more than $ 70 million under the Trump presidency, believing it had “grossly exaggerated” its profits.
The Trump Organization called the report “intentionally misleading, irresponsible and unequivocally false” and called it “political harassment.”
The group did not follow up on AFP’s requests.
But several American media have reported a very low occupancy rate, in particular because of the pandemic.
The Trump Organization then assigned the lease for the building for an announced amount of $ 375 million to an investment fund, which plans to reopen the hotel in the first months of 2022 under the name Waldorf Astoria.
It did not appease the critics.
“Sell it now, when it is no longer in power, that the shenanigans have subsided”, points out the president of CREW, “it is too little, too late”.