Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, center, and his family cut a ribbon during the grand opening of the Trump International Hotel in D.C. on Oct. 26. “Thus the lease turned a building that had been costing taxpayers millions of dollars per year into a revenue-generating asset,” Terry wrote. Trump signed a 60-year lease for the government-owned Old Post Office Pavilion on Pennsylvania Avenue in 2013, then spent more than $200 million turning the project into a luxury hotel. Since the election, Democrats on Capitol Hill have constantly pressed the agency to address concerns raised by Trump’s profiting from the lease deal. During the week of Trump’s inauguration, leading congressional Democrats released data showing that Trump’s hotel lost more than $1.1 million in the first two months of operations and said it raised untenable conflicts of interest.

Source: Washington Post March 23, 2017 19:24 UTC