Following Washington Post Report, Senators Reiterate Calls for Full Disclosure of Trump-Saudi Business Ties
In October, Senators wrote to President Trump and Trump Org. demanding full accounting of financial ties between Trump and the Saudi Kingdom following murder of Jamal Khashoggi; According to Washington Post report, lobbyists for Saudi government paid for 500 rooms at Trump’s D.C. hotel after the 2016 election
WASHINGTON – Today, a group of 11 Democratic senators are reiterating their call for President Donald Trump and the Trump Organization to disclose any financial ties between the Trump Organization and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, following a Washington Post report that lobbyists representing the Saudi government paid for 500 rooms at the Trump D.C. hotel shortly after President Trump’s election. Last month, after the Saudi-led killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Jeffrey A. Merkley (D-Ore.) wrote to President Donald Trump and to the Trump Organization seeking a full accounting of any financial ties between the Trump Organization and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but the senators never received a response to their inquiry.
“The administration’s refusal to hold the Saudi Kingdom accountable for its murder of Jamal Khashoggi is a stain on our values as a nation,” the senators said today. “The latest report – that the Saudi government spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at President Trump’s hotel shortly after his election, duping veterans in the process – may offer insight into why the Trump administration is going to such great lengths to protect the crown prince. We need a full accounting of President Trump and the Trump Organization’s business ties to the Saudi government, and the administration must not continue to ignore congressional oversight. The American people need answers – and they will get them, one way or another.”
The senators previously joined nearly 200 members of Congress in filing suit against President Trump for violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which prohibits government officials, including the president, from accepting foreign government payments or benefits.
The full text of the senators’ October letters are available HERE and HERE.
