A Trump hotel mystery: Giant reservations followed by empty rooms

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/02/trump-hotel-empty-rooms-016763


President Donald Trump's golf resort in Doonbeg, Ireland. | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

By ANITA KUMAR

10/02/2019 05:00 AM EDT

House investigators are looking into an allegation that groups — including at least one foreign government — tried to ingratiate themselves to President Donald Trump by booking rooms at his hotels but never staying in them.

It’s a previously unreported part of a broader examination by the House Oversight Committee, included in the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry, into whether Trump broke the law by accepting money from U.S. or foreign governments at his properties.

“Now we’re looking at near raw bribery,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a House Oversight Committee member who chairs the subcommittee with jurisdiction over Trump’s hotel in Washington. “That was the risk from day one — foreign governments and others trying to seek favor because we know Trump pays attention to this.... It’s an obvious attempt to curry favor with him.”

The investigation began after the committee received information that two entities — a trade association and a foreign government — booked a large quantity of rooms but only used a fraction of them, according to a person familiar with the allegation but isn't authorized to speak for the committee.

The so-called emoluments clause of the Constitution forbids Trump from profiting from foreign governments, or from receiving any money from the U.S. government aside from his annual salary.

Rep. Ro Khanna, (D-Calif.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, said if Trump or his staff solicited the hotel reservations they could have broken the law. But even if they didn’t, it’s still a problem.

</snip>

...not even trying to hide it anymore.

[ck4829]

1. Maybe they put a stealth plane in there?

[empedocles]

2. More trump profit on paid, empty rooms - no labor charges.

More bang for the buck.

[pwb]

3. He is a money launderer.

I think that is what he has always done.

[2naSalit]

8. Yup...nt

[DENVERPOPS]

38. Question

By not doing anything, and in fact endorsing him, and protecting him, aren’t the Repubs in the House and Senate and everyone around him including kiddies complicit in the same crimes......aiding and abetting, accessory after the fact, RICO act, conspiracy, money laundering, and on and on and on and on?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

42. sure looks to me like the whole of GOP are unindicted co-conspirators

Gangsters Of Putin

[bdamomma]

49. Isn't that the truth

"Gangsters Of Putin", exactly.

[madaboutharry]

4. The Trump Laundromat

Trump used a similar method selling the units in his apartment buildings. Whatever money Trump has now is dirty.

[True Blue American]

6. And Trump and his gang are using tax payers money

To fly all over the world to do his dirty work.

[True Blue American]

7. So did Ivanka!

[usaf-vet]

36. LOCK HER UP first...then watch Trump spinoff his unstable axis.

Then see if he is ready for a deal.

Starting with resigning and flipping on his co-conspirators.

Go for his weak spot.

[Kentonio]

53. Nah, I'd rather get his finger off the nuclear trigger first.

[usaf-vet]

54. Point taken!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

11. Also liken to when his dad bought millions in casino chips

and never played them. Not sure how they learned this happened but it was in the Netflix trump documentary.

I think even if we get his financials it will take a long time and a team of expert forensic accountants and inside whistleblowers to prove malfeasance.

[Rorey]

15. Was just thinking of that

I missed your post.

In a way I'd like to hear the entire Trump history, but at the same time, it's just too nauseating.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. What did he do on selling apts?

[madaboutharry]

14. He would sell the units to Russian oligarchs and mobsters who bought

them for cash with dirty money so that they could then turn around and sell them legitimately for a profit, cleaning up the money.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trumps-businesses-are-full-of-dirty-russian-money-the-scandal-is-thats-legal/2019/03/29/11b812da-5171-11e9-88a1-ed346f0ec94f_story.html

[Laura PourMeADrink]

33. Yes. There are so many flavors to this. At least with

The apartments he did give up ownership and lost an asset. If I understand correctly. With these hotel bookings, he lost nothing and gained cash. Just like his dad buying millions of casino chips and not playing them.

Trump is right about one thing..he's lost tons of money being pResident. Probably curbed his crimes to some degree? Of course there's the converse, that he doesn't realize. Now the whole world knows about his schemes.

[True Blue American]

37. Money laundering.

[happybird]

28. Here's a great article:

Trump’s Russian Laundromat:
https://newrepublic.com/article/143586/trumps-russian-laundromat-trump-tower-luxury-high-rises-dirty-money-international-crime-syndicate

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. Thanks so much for the link!

[bdamomma]

50. thanks for that

just listed into my favorites to read.

[bdamomma]

51. I have the read

the article, tRump has had deep ties to Russia for a very long time, so when he says he has no dealings with Russia, he is a LIAR.

Justice must be done to get this bastard.

[bdamomma]

52. this paragraph here

There is no evidence that Trump knew Ivankov personally, even if they were neighbors. But the fact that a top Russian mafia boss lived and worked in Trump’s own building indicates just how much high-level Russian mobsters came to view the future president’s properties as a home away from home. In 2009, after being extradited to Russia to face murder charges, Ivankov was gunned down in a sniper attack on the streets of Moscow. According to The Moscow Times, his funeral was a media spectacle in Russia, attracting

“1,000 people wearing black leather jackets, sunglasses, and gold chains,” along with dozens of giant wreaths from the various brotherhoods.


I wonder if tRump's thugs will show up wearing the very same attire to his.

[dalton99a]

26. +1

[RandiFan1290]

5. Like 'no show' jobs in the mafia. nt

[Laura PourMeADrink]

35. What are "no show" jobs?

[brush]

41. Mafia figures often finagled/strong armed slots on company payrolls and got...

regular checks put never actually showed up for work. It's a pretty common organized crime scam.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

43. Thanks brush!

[Botany]

9. Can they be anymore dirty?

n/t

[volstork]

22. Don't answer that.

(Because the answer is "YES.&quot

[Bettie]

23. You probably don't want to know the answer to that

any more than I do...but yes, they probably can.

[Botany]

25. I have always thought when the Saudis went through the UAE to pay off Kushner's 666 5th Ave. ...

... property in NYC by paying the rent on the building for 99 years and then he, Kushner, gave up
Khashoggi to the Crown Prince to be murdered was the perfect example of just how "mobbed up"
that Trump and company were and still are but almost everyday we see new crimes and scams such
as paying for hotel rooms and not showing up.

[disndat]

40. Kushner's 5th Ave bldg deal

sounded just like the attempted Ukraine deal. But instead of withholding the $400 million aid, Kushner promised to remove
the Qatar blockade(or something like that) for the $Billion sale of 666 5th Ave.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

46. This adds so much credence to what we have

suspected so often. MOs that are similar to new acts. And the other way around too. One of the biggest takeaways with Ukraine deal. Implies he really was capable and likely did conspire with Russia in 2016. Mueller just couldn't prove it or was told/forced not to.

[The Liberal Lion]

10. For goodness sakes the man even operates like putin

[Rorey]

13. He learned from his father

We all remember hearing about how Fred bought $3.5M worth of casino chips to try to bail out Trump's failing Atlantic City casino.

45 is a loser and a fake. Always has been.

[dlk]

16. How many ways can you spell b-r-i-b-e?

Once a grifter, always a grifter.

[marble falls]

17. Classic way to money launder a bribe,

[Iterate]

18. After he is out of power...

can, or will, he be forced by law to forfeit all profits made during his term of office?

Don't know if any candidates have mentioned this. Probably too soon to speculate and I don't know the applicable law.

[usaf-vet]

39. RICO would be just the tool for that.

[spanone]

19. Why don't they just lay cash at his feet?

[Wounded Bear]

47. The good old days are gone...

no need to carry bags full of cash around any more. Do it all with a mouse click.

[Hal Zerozerozeronine]

20. In Keeping with the Pattern

All hat, no cattle.

[Monsieur_Grumpe]

21. Follow the money

[Wounded Bear]

48. Yep, been in my sigline since Nov '16

[Johnny2X2X]

24. This will be the lasting legacy

These are mafia type criminals now in charge of our government at all levels. I keep repeating this, but I truly believe they will be unraveling the scams decades from now. This group are geniuses at coming up with new ways to rob and steal, they are stealing in ways that no one would ever have thought to steal before. There are thousands and thousands f scams occurring right now.

And if allowed to remain in power, they will steal more than anyone thought possible. The US treasury is being drained.

[Happy Hoosier]

27. It's not a mystery. It's bribery. NT

[lagomorph777]

29. The Emoluments Machine

Turdberry, Dooshbeg, Mar-A-Lardo; all are just cogs in The Emoluments Machine.

[lagomorph777]

31. Absolutely.

[PatSeg]

32. Yes

Trump has been so in-your-face for quite some time now, as if he is defying anyone to do anything about it. I wonder if he really thought he'd never get caught or if on some level he wanted to get caught.

[Blue_Tires]

44. I'm old enough to remember when media and pundits left AND right

were accusing Hillary Clinton of "pay for play" with the Clinton Foundation on a damn near *DAILY* basis... And for reasons only God knows, nobody in the media today is even using the term with Trump?

[SunSeeker]

56. Right? And this actually IS pay to play, unlike the Clinton Foundation!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

45. ...

[SpankMe]

55. Reservations on the books, but no one occupying the rooms...

If they can show that money changed hands for these rooms that were ultimately never used, that could be a strong data point for money laundering.

[Blue Owl]

57. Lights are on but nobody's home

n/t