Trump Organization considers selling DC hotel at center of ethics complaints

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's real estate company is considering the sale of its lease of a hotel in the nation's capital that has been a target for watchdog groups who say foreign officials stay there to curry favor with the administration.

The Trump International Hotel, located blocks from the White House, has drawn criticism because foreign officials and others with business before the administration book rooms and events there. The hotel's customers in 2017 included officials from Malaysia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to public disclosures.

Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization, confirmed Friday that the company hired another real estate firm to market the property.

"Since we opened our doors, we have received tremendous interest in this hotel and as real estate developers, we are always willing to explore our options," Eric Trump said in a statement. "People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel and therefore we may be willing to sell."

The move comes weeks after a federal appeals court in New York revived a lawsuit that alleged Trump is violating the Constitution's emoluments clauses by accepting payments at his hotels in New York and Washington. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals recently agreed to hear a separate case claiming the payments to Trump's hotels and restaurants violate the Constitution's anti-corruption clauses.

It also comes as the White House has had to defend and ultimately reverse a decision to hold next year's G-7 meeting of the world's most industrialized economies at a Trump-owned property in Florida. Citing "Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility," Trump announced on Twitter that the Doral golf resort in Miami would not be used, after all.

In fact, some Republicans had also questioned holding an international meeting at a property owned by the president.

The president's income from his company's hotel in Washington, D.C. topped $40 million in 2017, according to his 2018 financial disclosure report. Unlike previous presidents, Trump continues to own his former business empire, though his family runs it.