Trump to provide rare look of finances in disclosure report
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s financial disclosure report Thursday showed revenue held steady last year at several of his key properties — including his Washington hotel and Doral golf resort — despite a turbulent presidency that has buffeted his brand.
Trump’s Doral golf course and club in Miami took in the most among his golf properties, generating about $76 million in revenue last year, about $1 million more than in 2017. His Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, took in nearly $23 million, a drop of more than $2 million.
Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel near the White House, a magnet for lobbyists and foreign interests, generated nearly $41 million, up less than half a million from last year.
A full tally for Trump’s overall businesses for 2018 was not immediately available. He took in $453 million in 2017.
The report, released by the Office of Government Ethics, also showed that Trump’s debt increased over the past year by $10 million, to at least $315 million. Trump’s newest debt — a mortgage loan of more than $25 million — was for the purchase of an eight-bedroom Palm Beach home adjacent to Mar-A-Lago that had been owned by his sister, retired federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry.
The new mortgage was provided by Professional Bank, a Miami-based lender that specializes in construction and residential and commercial real estate.
Professional Bank’s CEO, Abel Iglesias, was appointed in February 2018 to the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Miami branch. The appointment was made solely by the Atlanta board, said Jean Tate, a spokesman for the Atlanta Fed.
While Trump has refused to release his tax records, he has been filing the less-specific financial disclosure reports since he began running for president. They list revenues rather than profits, and many figures are given in ranges rather than specific dollar amounts.
The latest report is significant because for the first time it allows a 12-month comparison with a previous year. Trump’s report released two years ago stated estimates for revenue over 16 months.
Since he won election, Trump’s name has been stripped from several buildings, including a hotel in the Soho section of New York City and condo tower in Panama. His company has also put on hold a rollout of two new hotel chains targeting budget and mid-priced travelers.
Trump’s finances have been the subject of much speculation lately following news reports of big losses years ago and struggles with key properties since he became president.
The New York Times reported earlier this month that Trump posted more than $1 billion in losses on his taxes for a decade through the mid-1990s. Sales of condos at Trump Tower, the heavily guarded Fifth Avenue building where the president plans to stay Thursday night, have reportedly slowed and their prices sagged. And The Washington Post reported this week that operating profits fell sharply at Doral in 2017, citing documents filed by the Trump Organization with local authorities in an effort to lower its taxes.
Figures on Doral from Trump’s disclosure report were for 2018 and only for revenue, so are not comparable.
When Trump took office, he refused to fully divest from his global business, a break with presidential tradition. Instead, he put his assets in a trust controlled by his two adult sons and a senior executive. Trump can take back control of the trust at any time, and he’s allowed to withdraw cash from it.
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Braun reported from Washington.
The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.
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