The State Department spent more than $15,000 at Trump International Hotel & Tower in Vancouver in February when the hotel staged a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by members of the Trump family, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
The Post obtained the payment information via a Freedom of Information Act request, and reported that it was the first evidence of State Department payments to a Trump-branded property during the current administration. The Trump Organization does not own the hotel, but rather has a management and licensing deal with its owner.
In a financial disclosure released in June, Trump said he received “over $5,000,000” (pp. 30) in royalties from the project.
The Post noted that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who are running the President’s real estate business while President Trump is in office, attended the hotel’s ribbon-cutting on Feb. 28, as did Tiffany Trump.
The Post noted that the elder Trump brothers have traveled the globe in their roles leading the Trump Organization, flanked constantly Secret Service protection. The agency has spent tens of thousands of dollars on accommodations, the paper reported.
