Trump negotiates sale of his luxury hotel in Washington where foreign governments stayed during his term

The family business of the former president of the United States Donald Trump is negotiating with US asset manager CGI Merchant Group to transfer its Washington luxury hotel, the Wall Street Journal.

The amount of the transaction could rise to more than 370 million dollars, says the financial newspaper, which cites sources close to the transaction.

Near the White House and the Capitol, the Trump International Hotel Washington DC It is located in the headquarters of the old post office of the US federal capital, built at the end of the 19th century.

The building belongs to the State but in 2013, the General Services Administration (GSA), which manages the federal real estate park, proposed a rental contract to the Trump Organization for 60 years with an option to extend it for another 40 years.

Opened in 2016, the hotel became a meeting place for Republican congressmen and donors during Trump’s term.

Since the Republican billionaire’s defeat in the November 2020 election to Joe Biden, the hotel has lost customers.

A report by a US parliamentary commission published on Friday estimated that the hotel would have suffered losses of more than 70 million dollars between its opening and the end of 2020, figures that the Trump Organization refutes.

The commission, chaired by a Democratic congresswoman, is equally surprised at the sums paid by foreign governments during the presidency of Trump, which could constitute a conflict of interest.

According to the Wall Street Journal, if CGI Merchant Group took over the transfer, the company would try to remove Trump’s name from the building and hand it over to a world-renowned hotel group like Hilton Worldwide Holdings.

Contacted by the AFP, the CGI Merchant Group, the Trump Organization and the GSA did not react immediately.

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