WASHINGTON ― President-elect Donald Trump will be in violation of the lease on his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., the day he takes office, according to the agency that owns the lease.
In response to a letter from House Democrats, Michael Gelber, the deputy commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service, said that Trump will be in breach of his lease as soon as he is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017. The hotel lease specifically states that “no … elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.”
Gelber informed House Democrats who penned the letter to the GSA, including House Oversight & Government Reform Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Transportation & Infrastructure Committee ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.), that the only way to avoid a violation of contract would be if Trump fully divests his ownership interest in the hotel. He would still be in breach if he simply transfers management control to his two adult sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, as he has said he would do.
The Trump International Hotel in D.C. is just one of the many conflicts of interest facing the president-elect before he takes office, but it is one of the most glaring. Beyond the clear issue of whether he will be in violation of his contract with the government, upon assuming office Trump would be able to appoint a new head of the GSA, which would have to renegotiate terms of his lease with his children every year. This would put any GSA employee in a terribly uncomfortable and compromised position.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/don ... rvjjpgmn29
May he take the second choice and keep the hotel.