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Trump organization not tracking all profits from foreign government entities
Thomson Reuters
By Julia Harte
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's businesses will donate profits from customers who self-identify as representatives of foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury, according to a pamphlet from the Trump Organization obtained by a Congressional committee.
But they will not require guests who represent foreign governments to identify themselves as such at the Trump Organization's hotels and other Trump-branded venues, the pamphlet said.
Payments from foreign governments to businesses that profit Trump have drawn criticism from constitutional and ethics experts who say they put Trump in violation of the U.S. Constitution's ban on the president receiving "emoluments" from foreign governments.
Emoluments are typically defined in this context as funds or gifts of value.
“Putting forth a policy that requires all guests to identify themselves would impede upon personal privacy and diminish the guest experience of our brand," said the pamphlet, which was distributed to the general managers at each hotel, golf course, social club, and winery owned or operated by Trump.
Trump's lawyer, Sheri Dillon, announced at a January press conference that Trump would "voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotel to the United States Treasury."
The Trump Organization, Dillon, and the White House could not immediately be reached for comment.
Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which obtained the pamphlet, said in a response to the Trump Organization that its method for identifying foreign government payments to Trump businesses was deficient.
In a written reply to the Trump Organization, Cummings said that foreign powers would still be able to provide unconstitutional emoluments to Trump through entities that are funded and controlled but not openly affiliated with foreign governments.
(Reporting by Julia Harte)
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