The subpoenas target 37 entities, including 13 Trump-linked entities and the federal agency that oversees the lease for Trump’s Washington hotel. Subpoenas were also being sent to the Department of Defense, General Services Administration, Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture and the Treasury Department, which have spent taxpayer dollars at the hotel or have information on Trump’s finances relevant to the case.
Other Trump entities that officials plan to subpoena include those related to his Washington hotel and its management. Eighteen private entities including restaurants, venues and hotels that compete with the Trump hotel are also being subpoenaed in an effort to “illuminate the unfair nature of that competition,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh.
“We are confident that at the end of discovery we will be able to prove our case — that President Trump is violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, America’s first anti-corruption laws,” Frosh said in a statement.
While news organizations have reported how groups representing Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the Philippines have hosted events at Trump’s D.C. hotel since he took office, the subpoenas offer the best chance to get a complete picture of which foreign and domestic governments are spending at the hotel, how much they are spending and where that money is going. They’re also trying to determine how Trump’s hotel is affecting the hospitality industry in the District of Columbia and Maryland.
The subpoenas seek to prove that hotel revenues are going to the president through his affiliated entities, including The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Most of the records are being requested back to Jan. 1, 2015.
The Justice Department declined to comment. Neither the Trump Organization, Trump’s personal attorney on the case, William S. Consovoy, nor the White House responded to a request for comment Tuesday.
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