WASHINGTON _ The Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. told the government that it lost almost $1.2 million during its first two months of operation, before Donald Trump was elected president, according to a letter released Monday by four congressional Democrats.
Trump's company had projected $397,000 in net income for September and October, according to the Jan. 23 letter, which cited information from the General Services Administration, which overseas government real estate. Business analysts had previously suggested that the hotel had suffered as Trump lagged Democrat Hillary Clinton in polling ahead of the election.
Alan Garten, executive vice president and general counsel at the Trump Organization, and Jennifer Rodstrom, a spokeswoman for Trump Hotels, didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Trump's company operates the hotel in a former post office leased from the federal government. The letter does not include financial data since Trump's surprise election win, although traffic at the hotel, where cocktails can cost $24, has been high.
"The possibility that President Trump will profit from large increases in hotel revenues because he was elected president highlights the grave concerns we have raised for months about his conflicts of interest," the Democrats wrote. They said the hotel, where foreign diplomats have scheduled events, could prove a violation a clause of the U.S. Constitution that bars payments from foreign governments to government officials.
The representatives who wrote the letter _ Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, Gerald Connolly of Virginia, and Andre Carson of Indiana _ also question whether the agency will enforce a provision of the lease that bars elected officials from taking part in the agreement. Trump's lawyers have said it doesn't apply to him because he was not an elected official when the lease was signed in 2013.
Trump Old Post Office LLC, through which President Trump owns the majority of the hotel, predicted it would take in more than $6 million in September and October ahead of its official opening in the days before the election, according to the letter. Instead, its revenue totaled roughly $4.1 million.
