In another tangled ethics scenario for Donald Trump, the president’s Trump Company is supposedly asking to delay its loan payments to Deutsche Bank— which is being investigated by the Department of Justice to identify if it complied with anti-money laundering policies.
The circumstance highlights the special power of Trump as president to navigate an offer for his organisation hurt by the COVID-19 crisis, especially with a bank under investigation by his own administration.
Trump did not divest from his businesses when he moved into the White Home as other presidents have done to prevent conflicts of interest The present situation is the “ absolute problem that somebody (ahem) cautioned about” when Trump took office, tweeted Walter Shaub, the former head of the U.S. Office of Federal Government Ethics under both Barack Obama and Trump.
That person with his hat in his hand on Deutsche Bank’s doorstep pleading for assistance? https://t.co/9wCNCVxbI4
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) April 3, 2020
The company has laid off or furloughed some 1,500 employees in numerous hotels, The Washington Post reported As of Friday, 17 of the Trump Company’s hotels and clubs were closed, according to the Post.
Loans from Deutsche Bank, the Trump Organization’s biggest creditor, have actually supposedly been used for Trump’s Chicago Tower, the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort– which is now shuttered– and his Washington, D.C., hotel, which has actually closed its bar and dining establishment, The New York Times reported The loans are backed by an individual warranty from Trump himself, according to the Times. Deutsche Bank has lent the Trump Company some $2 billion since 1998, and there are currently an approximated $350 million in loans impressive, the newspaper reported.
Trump Company agents reached out to Deutsche Bank’s private banking unit in New York last month for prelimin