WASHINGTON _ The U.S. agency responsible for government buildings cited confidentiality concerns to justify its hesitation to turn over documents related to the Trump International Hotel to a House committee investigating the role of the president's company at the historic site.
Democrats on the Committee on Oversight and Reform said the General Services Administration's unwillingness to cooperate was part of a "large-scale coordinated pattern of obstruction." They added that the agency had been cooperative in turning over documents during previous administrations.
The committee questioned Robert Borden, the GSA's chief of staff, on the agency's failure to submit documents that Congress has been seeking for two years in relation to the lease of the Trump hotel, which is on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, and its management.
The GSA did not meet the April 26 deadline set by Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings and Government Reform Subcommittee Chairman Gerald Connolly to produce certain financial documents.
"With regards to the financial documents there is, as with many of our agreements with our business partners, there is a confidentiality provision and the confidentiality provision says that these documents aren't to be produced outside of GSA," Borden told Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat.
Cummings threatened to issue a subpoena if the GSA didn't respond to the panel's requests. Borden responded that his agency was willing to discuss "possible accommodations."
In 2013, the GSA leased the Old Post Office to the Trump Organization, which renovated the building and turned it into a hotel. Democrats on the committee said when Trump became president and decided to maintain his business holdings the lease violated the Constitution.
Trump owns the hotel through a trust. It has become a magnet for high-powered Republicans in Washington, from lobbyists to lawmakers, who rent rooms and spend money at the hotel's restaurants.
Raskin cited reports that 24 foreign governments had spent money at the hotel and other Trump enterprises. He said that was a violation of the Constitution's so-called emoluments clause, which prohibits government office-holders from accepting presents or money from a foreign state.
According to the reports, Raskin said, the GSA gave the Trump Hotel $534,000 to maintain the historic clock tower on the property. Raskin added that since the GSA is a government entity this violates the Domestic Emolument Clause that prohibits the president from receiving additional compensation from the U.S. government above his salary.
Borden said there was an arrangement with the hotel for the clock tower, but that he couldn't cite exact numbers during the hearing.
