DEMS/FOREIGN DIGNITARIES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP BUSINESS: “An internal U.S. government watchdog on Wednesday [1-16-19] found ‘serious shortcomings’ in federal officials’ handling of a lease by President Donald Trump’s company of a historic government building in Washington now home to a Trump International Hotel. Amid intensifying scrutiny of possible conflicts of interest involving Trump’s businesses, the inspector general of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) found fault with the agency’s review of the lease of the Old Post Office Pavilion. The Romanesque Revival landmark on Pennsylvania Avenue, not far from the White House, was leased by the Trump Organization in 2013 for 60 years and now houses a luxury Trump hotel often frequented by government officials. Some Democrats have charged that Trump’s businesses, now managed by his sons, have profited from his presidency, saying that foreign dignitaries sometimes stay at the hotel in part to curry favor with him.”
–Reuters, “U.S. Watchdog Faults Handling of Government Lease for Trump D.C. Hotel,” The New York Times online, January 16, 2019