Trump's Washington hotel a conflict of interest, Democrats say

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump must divest his luxury Washington, D.C.,hotel in a building leased from the federal government because the arrangement violates conflict of interest rules, congressional Democrats said on Wednesday.

The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages property owned by the federal government, including the Old Post Office that houses the Trump International Hotel, has concluded that Trump would be in breach of the lease when he is sworn in on Jan. 20, according to a letter from Democrats on the House oversight committee.

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The letter referred to a Dec. 8 briefing to congressional staffers by a GSA official whom the letter did not name.

"The deputy commissioner made clear that Mr. Trump must divest himself not only of managerial controlbut of all ownership interest, as well,"Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings and three other Democrats said in the letter, made public on Wednesday.

Close to White House

The hotel is a few blocks from the White House and has become aflashpointfor anti-Trump protests since it opened in the fall. It is part of a complex web of businesses that could create unprecedented conflicts of interest for Trump, a real estate developer and former reality TV star.

Trump's company has not responded to the GSA's concerns about the potential conflict, the Democratic lawmakers said.

The agency has been dealing with Trump's daughterIvankaabout the lease, even as she acts as a presidential transition team official, they said.

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The Democratic lawmakers asked the GSA for documents about the hotel's lease, profit and expense projections and legal memos about the potential conflict of interest.

The hotel lease includes a standard GSA provision barringmembers of Congress or other elected federal officials such asthe president from having any part of it.

Trump has said he will draw up legal documents that will remove him from day to day business operations. He had planned a Thursday news conference to disclose details of this plan but said this week he would put that announcement off until next month.

Trump will address the hotel issue in January, spokesman Jason Miller told reporters.

Transfer to children a no go

The GSA said in a statement it could not speak definitivelyabout divestment until Trump's financial arrangements were
completed and he had become president.

Federal law does not prohibit the president's involvement in private business while in office, even though members of Congress and lower-ranking executive branch officials are subject to strict conflict of interest rules.

But most presidents in recent decades have placed their personal assets, including property and financial holdings, in blind trusts overseen by independent advisers to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Under a blind trust, the owner has no say or knowledge in how the assets are managed.

Trump has said he plans to avoid the conflict issue bytransferring control of his businesses to his oldest three children.

But the U.S. Office of Government Ethics said in a letter toDemocratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware on Monday that such atransfer would not qualify legally as a blind trust nor eliminate conflicts of interest.