SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
RECOMMENDED...
Aerial view of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. (Photo: New York Daily News Archive, NY Daily News Via Getty Images)
'Presidency for Sale': Report Details Big-Buck Spending by Influence Seekers at Trump Properties
"Business is booming at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., not because of the décor, but because corporations and foreign governments want to curry favor with the president."
Jan 16, 2018
President Donald Trump's first year in office has been a "year of unprecedented conflicts of interest," according to a new report that documents how dozens of political candidates, foreign governments, interest groups, and other private entities have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at the president's properties since his inauguration.
" Donald Trump entered office with the most blatant and potentially corrupting conflicts of interest in the history of American politics, and things only got worse from there."
--Robert Weissman,
Public Citizen
The 64 patrons identified by Public Citizen--through government filings and news reports--in Presidency for Sale range from the private prison company GEO Group and the American Petroleum Institute, to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Society and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a contingent of lobbyists and state officials that work to advance a corporate agenda in legislatures across the country.
The Saudi Arabian government is also on the list, and as Public Citizen noted in a tweet about its report, "The Saudi effort to curry favor with the Trump administration stands out above all: A PR firm spent $270,000 on behalf of the Saudi government at the Trump International Hotel in D.C. on an undisclosed date."
The full list, detailed in a public spreadsheet, includes:
- 35 political candidates or political organizations;
- 16 trade or interest groups;
- 4 charities, including one run by Trump's son, Eric;
- 4 foreign governments;
- 3 religious groups;
- 2 individual companies; and
- 1 college football team.
Among the political organizations listed are groups supporting Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the House Majority Leader.
The most popular Trump properties frequented by the corporate and political powers that be, according to the report, are the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida--the so-called Winter White House, which Trump visits often--and the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
"Business is booming at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., not because of the decor, but because corporations and foreign governments want to curry favor with the president," said Public Citizen president Robert Weissman. "Donald Trump entered office with the most blatant and potentially corrupting conflicts of interest in the history of American politics, and things only got worse from there."
Although Trump has turned over control of day-to-day business operations to his sons, while serving as president, he has maintained close ties to his empire, which includes hotels, golf clubs, restaurants, and real estate developments.
"Donald Trump is a man who is easily flattered," noted Alan Zibel, the report's author and research director of Public Citizen's Corporate Presidency Project. "Corporations and foreign governments know the best way to get on his good side is to open up their wallets at one of Trump's many businesses."
Public Citizen's report is just the latest to raise concerns about the administration's ethical conflicts. Last year, watchdog groups filed a lawsuit to force the government to release the visitor logs for Trump residences and Mar-a-Lago, and a USA TODAY investigation published in September revealed how "top executives, lobbyists, and contractors are buying access" to Trump through memberships at his numerous golf clubs.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
President Donald Trump's first year in office has been a "year of unprecedented conflicts of interest," according to a new report that documents how dozens of political candidates, foreign governments, interest groups, and other private entities have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at the president's properties since his inauguration.
" Donald Trump entered office with the most blatant and potentially corrupting conflicts of interest in the history of American politics, and things only got worse from there."
--Robert Weissman,
Public Citizen
The 64 patrons identified by Public Citizen--through government filings and news reports--in Presidency for Sale range from the private prison company GEO Group and the American Petroleum Institute, to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Society and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a contingent of lobbyists and state officials that work to advance a corporate agenda in legislatures across the country.
The Saudi Arabian government is also on the list, and as Public Citizen noted in a tweet about its report, "The Saudi effort to curry favor with the Trump administration stands out above all: A PR firm spent $270,000 on behalf of the Saudi government at the Trump International Hotel in D.C. on an undisclosed date."
The full list, detailed in a public spreadsheet, includes:
- 35 political candidates or political organizations;
- 16 trade or interest groups;
- 4 charities, including one run by Trump's son, Eric;
- 4 foreign governments;
- 3 religious groups;
- 2 individual companies; and
- 1 college football team.
Among the political organizations listed are groups supporting Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the House Majority Leader.
The most popular Trump properties frequented by the corporate and political powers that be, according to the report, are the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida--the so-called Winter White House, which Trump visits often--and the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
"Business is booming at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., not because of the decor, but because corporations and foreign governments want to curry favor with the president," said Public Citizen president Robert Weissman. "Donald Trump entered office with the most blatant and potentially corrupting conflicts of interest in the history of American politics, and things only got worse from there."
Although Trump has turned over control of day-to-day business operations to his sons, while serving as president, he has maintained close ties to his empire, which includes hotels, golf clubs, restaurants, and real estate developments.
"Donald Trump is a man who is easily flattered," noted Alan Zibel, the report's author and research director of Public Citizen's Corporate Presidency Project. "Corporations and foreign governments know the best way to get on his good side is to open up their wallets at one of Trump's many businesses."
Public Citizen's report is just the latest to raise concerns about the administration's ethical conflicts. Last year, watchdog groups filed a lawsuit to force the government to release the visitor logs for Trump residences and Mar-a-Lago, and a USA TODAY investigation published in September revealed how "top executives, lobbyists, and contractors are buying access" to Trump through memberships at his numerous golf clubs.
President Donald Trump's first year in office has been a "year of unprecedented conflicts of interest," according to a new report that documents how dozens of political candidates, foreign governments, interest groups, and other private entities have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at the president's properties since his inauguration.
" Donald Trump entered office with the most blatant and potentially corrupting conflicts of interest in the history of American politics, and things only got worse from there."
--Robert Weissman,
Public Citizen
The 64 patrons identified by Public Citizen--through government filings and news reports--in Presidency for Sale range from the private prison company GEO Group and the American Petroleum Institute, to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Society and the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a contingent of lobbyists and state officials that work to advance a corporate agenda in legislatures across the country.
The Saudi Arabian government is also on the list, and as Public Citizen noted in a tweet about its report, "The Saudi effort to curry favor with the Trump administration stands out above all: A PR firm spent $270,000 on behalf of the Saudi government at the Trump International Hotel in D.C. on an undisclosed date."
The full list, detailed in a public spreadsheet, includes:
- 35 political candidates or political organizations;
- 16 trade or interest groups;
- 4 charities, including one run by Trump's son, Eric;
- 4 foreign governments;
- 3 religious groups;
- 2 individual companies; and
- 1 college football team.
Among the political organizations listed are groups supporting Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the House Majority Leader.
The most popular Trump properties frequented by the corporate and political powers that be, according to the report, are the Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida--the so-called Winter White House, which Trump visits often--and the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
"Business is booming at the Trump International Hotel in D.C., not because of the decor, but because corporations and foreign governments want to curry favor with the president," said Public Citizen president Robert Weissman. "Donald Trump entered office with the most blatant and potentially corrupting conflicts of interest in the history of American politics, and things only got worse from there."
Although Trump has turned over control of day-to-day business operations to his sons, while serving as president, he has maintained close ties to his empire, which includes hotels, golf clubs, restaurants, and real estate developments.
"Donald Trump is a man who is easily flattered," noted Alan Zibel, the report's author and research director of Public Citizen's Corporate Presidency Project. "Corporations and foreign governments know the best way to get on his good side is to open up their wallets at one of Trump's many businesses."
Public Citizen's report is just the latest to raise concerns about the administration's ethical conflicts. Last year, watchdog groups filed a lawsuit to force the government to release the visitor logs for Trump residences and Mar-a-Lago, and a USA TODAY investigation published in September revealed how "top executives, lobbyists, and contractors are buying access" to Trump through memberships at his numerous golf clubs.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.