Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first Africa-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
By Chido Nwangwu. Follow on X (Twitter) @Chido247
An explosive document of 156 pages, titled “White House For Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump” was released on January 4, 2023 by the Congressional Democrats on the House of Representatives Oversight Committee.
A major part of its conclusions is that several businesses owned and operating under former President Donald J. Trump collected at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments during his one term as President and Commander-in-Chief of the United States.
Some of the Trump-related businesses are the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas; Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York; and Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza in New York.
Remarkably, the country that he attacks the most, China, is the dominant source of his transactional benefits. While Trump was eager to denote and categorize them as “Communist China”, he was making millions of dollars from another angle outside the immediate purview of the citizens of the United States. The “Communists” made the largest overall payment of $5.5 million. Coming in next was Saudi Arabia. They patronized and spent more than $615,000 at Trump World Tower, and Trump International Hotel. It is telling as President, Trump’s first foreign trip was to Saudi Arabia, in May 2017. Only a month earlier, Trump met with China’s President Xi at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
On that same day, Ivanka Trump received patents from China to benefit her private business. It is not yet clear if Mr. Trump is involved in the business.
In the preface to the “White House For Sale” report Democratic party congressman who served as one of the managers of Donald Trump impeachment, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, stated that “By prioritizing his financial gains and policy preferences of corrupt foreign entities over the American public interest, former President Trump has disregarded explicit constitutional regulations and the established precedents adhered to by former presidents.”
The report notes that Mr. Trump did not seek the necessary consent from Congress, as required by the U.S Constitution, which bars a President from accepting funds, payments or gifts from foreign governments or monarchs unless granted congressional authorization. Raskin, a professor of constitutional law, points to the fact that: “Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution forbids the President to accept money payments or gifts ‘of any kind whatever’ from foreign governments and monarchs unless he obtains ‘the Consent of the Congress’ to do so…. Yet Donald Trump, while holding the office of president, used his business entities to pocket millions of dollars from foreign states and royalty and never once went to Congress to seek its consent. This report sets forth the records showing foreign government money—and all the spoils from royals we can find—pouring into hotels and buildings that the President continued to own during his presidency, all in direct violation of the Constitutional prohibition.”
According to the report: “These payments were made while these governments were lobbying specific foreign policy aims with the Trump administration, even at times directly with President Trump, and as they were requesting specific actions from the United States to promote their own national policy goals.”
This report which USAfrica magazine and USAfricaonline.com have seen exposes the scope and details of the financial gains Trump is alleged to have made from overseas/international dealings.
But there’s another side to the Democrats’ timing and release of this report. It seems a part of the strategy of the Congressional Democrats to stand in the way of the Congressional Republicans, who are pushing to impeach President Joseph Biden. The Republicans have already compiled a list of allegations of impropriety against Mr. Biden, claiming he had ties to the international business dealings of his embattled son, Hunter Biden, before the Biden presidency. Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans have not demonstrated or published any evidence that President Biden has benefitted personally from any of those transactions by Hunter.
A seemingly hilarious but dangerous disposition of Mr. Trump to some of these issues is evident in the next comments from him: “Saudi Arabia, I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much!”
Trump’s America and the future of America, I think that the 2024 November elections can not come too soon!
•Dr. Chido Nwangwu, author of the forthcoming 2024 book, MLK, Mandela & Achebe: Power, Leadership and Identity, is Founder of the first African-owned, U.S-based newspaper on the internet, USAfricaonline.com, and established USAfrica in 1992 in Houston. He has appeared as an analyst on CNN, ALJazeera, SKYnews, and served as an adviser on Africa business to Houston’s former Mayor Dr. Lee Brown. Follow him @Chido247
