The first term

Trump pressed Ukraine to investigate Biden while military aid was on hold

$391M in aid on hold (House articles); GAO ruled on $214M of it

On a July 25, 2019 call, Trump told Ukraine’s president “I would like you to do us a favor though” and asked him to look into a 2016 election theory and into Joe Biden and his son, according to the White House’s own call memorandum. That summer the White House budget office withheld security aid to Ukraine that Congress had approved. The Government Accountability Office ruled on January 16, 2020 that withholding about $214 million of Defense Department aid for policy reasons broke the Impoundment Control Act. The House impeached Trump on December 18, 2019 (230-197 for abuse of power, 229-198 for obstruction of Congress) and the Senate acquitted him on February 5, 2020 (48-52 and 47-53, short of the two-thirds needed).

Their response: Trump denied wrongdoing. After the Senate vote, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham called the acquittal a “full vindication and exoneration.”

Sources: GAO decision B-331564 (Jan. 16, 2020) · White House memorandum of the July 25, 2019 call · H.Res. 755, articles of impeachment (govinfo.gov) · House Clerk roll call 695 (Article I) · House Clerk roll call 696 (Article II) · Senate roll call vote 33 (Article I) · Senate roll call vote 34 (Article II) · NPR

Mueller report laid out possible obstruction of justice and declined to clear Trump

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report, released in redacted form on April 18, 2019, examined a series of episodes in which Trump may have obstructed the Russia investigation (ten by Attorney General William Barr’s count, 11 by PBS NewsHour’s). Accepting a Justice Department opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted, Mueller made no prosecution decision and wrote that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” The same report said the investigation “did not establish” that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.

Their response: Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded the evidence was not sufficient to charge obstruction. Barr said that, as Trump “said from the beginning, there was in fact no collusion.”

Sources: Mueller report, Volume II (justice.gov) · Mueller report, Volume I (justice.gov) · CNBC · PBS NewsHour

Trump kept ownership of his businesses on taking office

On January 11, 2017, Trump announced he would not sell his businesses and would instead put them in a trust managed by his sons Donald Jr. and Eric and finance chief Allen Weisselberg. NPR later reported the trust was revocable and that Trump was its sole beneficiary. The same day, Office of Government Ethics director Walter Shaub said that stepping back from management was “meaningless from a conflict of interest perspective” and that “nothing short of divestiture will resolve these conflicts.”

Their response: Trump’s lawyer Sheri Dillon said he had “isolated” himself from the company, that his sons and Weisselberg would run it “without any involvement whatsoever” by him, and that an ethics adviser would be appointed.

Sources: Walter Shaub remarks as prepared, Brookings Institution (Jan. 11, 2017) · BBC News · NPR

Trump businesses took at least $7.8 million from foreign governments while he was president, House Democrats found

$7.8M+ from foreign governments (House Democrats’ staff count)

A January 2024 report by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, built on ledgers from Trump’s former accounting firm Mazars, identified at least $7.8 million in payments from governments and state-controlled entities of at least 20 countries to four Trump properties during his presidency. China was the largest at about $5.57 million and Saudi Arabia second at about $615,000; some of the figures are the report’s own estimates. The report says the true total is unknown because the committee’s Republican chairman stopped enforcing the Mazars subpoena in 2023.

Their response: Eric Trump called the report’s narrative “insane,” said the Chinese state bank’s Trump Tower lease dated from 2008, and has said profits from foreign-government hotel stays were voluntarily paid to the U.S. Treasury.

Sources: House Oversight Democrats, “White House for Sale” report (Jan. 4, 2024) · The New York Times

Trump kept a hotel lease with the federal government as president, then sold it for a reported $375 million

$375M reported sale price of the lease

Trump’s company held a 60-year lease, signed in 2013, on the government-owned Old Post Office in Washington and ran it as a hotel throughout his term. The General Services Administration’s inspector general found in January 2019 that the agency knew the lease raised constitutional emoluments questions and improperly decided not to address them. Hotel financial statements released in October 2021 by the House Oversight Committee, then led by Democrats, showed a net loss of more than $70 million during his presidency; the lease was sold to CGI Merchant Group in May 2022 for a reported $375 million.

Their response: The Trump Organization called the committee’s findings “intentionally misleading, irresponsible and unequivocally false,” said the committee misunderstood basic accounting, and said profits were donated to the U.S. Treasury.

Sources: GSA Office of Inspector General evaluation (Jan. 16, 2019) · CNN · The New York Times · House Oversight Democrats press release (May 2022)

Saudi-funded lobbyists and merger-seeking T-Mobile executives booked Trump’s Washington hotel

$270,044 by one Saudi-funded firm; $195,000 by T-Mobile

The Washington Post reported in December 2018 that lobbyists working for the Saudi government paid for an estimated 500 nights at the Trump International Hotel in the three months after the 2016 election, housing veterans brought to Washington to lobby against a law letting 9/11 families sue the kingdom; one firm’s Justice Department filing lists $270,044 spent at the hotel. T-Mobile told lawmakers it spent $195,000 at the hotel in the months after announcing its Sprint merger in April 2018, a deal that needed Trump administration approval.

Their response: T-Mobile chief executive John Legere told Congress he was a “longtime Trump hotel stayer” and had chosen the hotel for availability, security, meeting space and location.

Sources: The Washington Post · House Oversight Democrats, “White House for Sale” report · CNN · The Verge

Supreme Court ended the emoluments lawsuits without ruling on them

Three lawsuits (by the watchdog group CREW, by Maryland and the District of Columbia, and by Democratic members of Congress) argued Trump violated the Constitution’s emoluments clauses by taking government money through his businesses. The Supreme Court declined to hear the lawmakers’ case in October 2020, and on January 25, 2021, five days after Trump left office, it ordered the other two dismissed as moot and vacated the lower-court rulings that had gone against him. No court ever issued a final ruling on whether the payments were unconstitutional.

Their response: Trump’s Justice Department argued the Maryland and D.C. case was an “unprecedented and extraordinary lawsuit” and the claimed injury “attenuated and speculative.”

Sources: Supreme Court order list (Jan. 25, 2021) · CNN · Reason (Volokh Conspiracy)

GAO put four Mar-a-Lago trips at $13.6 million; press estimate for all golf was $151.5 million

$151.5M for first-term golf (HuffPost estimate); $13.6M for four trips (GAO)

The Government Accountability Office found that Trump’s four trips to Mar-a-Lago between Feb. 3 and March 5, 2017 cost federal agencies about $13.6 million, or about $3.4 million each, not counting classified costs or staff salaries. Extrapolating from that report, HuffPost put the taxpayer cost of his first-term golf at $151.5 million over 293 days at his own courses.

Sources: GAO-19-178: Presidential Travel · HuffPost: first-term total of $151.5 million cited

His company billed the Secret Service at least $1.4 million, at up to $1,185 a night

$1.4M+ billed to the Secret Service

Documents released by the House Oversight Committee in October 2022 showed the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service more than $1.4 million over four years, with nightly rates as high as $1,185, despite company claims that agents would stay “for free” or “at cost”. CREW’s FOIA-based tally put Secret Service spending at Trump properties near $2 million, and records obtained by American Oversight show the Pentagon spent at least $974,000 at Trump properties from July 2017 to November 2019.

Their response: Eric Trump said in 2019 that the company charged the Secret Service “like $50” a night; the committee’s records showed far higher rates.

Sources: CNN: Trump Organization charged Secret Service “exorbitant rates” (Oct. 17, 2022) · CREW: The Secret Service spent nearly $2 million at Trump properties (May 23, 2022) · American Oversight: Defense Department spent nearly $1 million at Trump properties

White House picked Trump’s own Doral resort for the G7 summit, then backed down

On October 17, 2019, acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney announced that the 2020 G7 summit of world leaders would be held at Trump National Doral, the president’s golf resort near Miami. After criticism from both parties that the president would be profiting from an official event, Trump dropped the plan two days later.

Their response: Trump said hosting would have come “at ZERO COST to the USA” and blamed “Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility” for the reversal. Mulvaney had said leaders would stay “at cost.”

Sources: NBC News

Military spent about $184,000 at Trump’s Turnberry resort in Scotland

$184,000 at Turnberry (Pentagon figures)

Pentagon figures given to the House Oversight Committee showed about $184,000 in military spending at Trump Turnberry between August 2017 and July 2019 ($124,578.96 in room charges plus $59,729.12 in other card charges), and nearly $17 million in spending at nearby Prestwick Airport, where Air Force planes refuelled, from Trump’s inauguration to June 2019. An Air Force review later found that 6 percent of crews overnighting at Prestwick from 2015 to 2019 (31 crews) stayed at Turnberry and concluded the stays followed operational need and lodging rules.

Their response: The Air Force said crews followed lodging policy; its review found no preference for any hotel and said interviewed commanders used Turnberry only after closer hotels were unavailable.

Sources: Politico (Sept. 18, 2019) · Politico (Sept. 6, 2019) · Air Mobility Command review (Oct. 2019)

Pence stayed at Trump’s Irish resort, 181 miles from his Dublin meetings

$599,454 in limousine costs (CREW, from State Department contracts)

On an official visit in September 2019, Vice President Mike Pence stayed at Trump’s golf resort in Doonbeg, on the opposite side of Ireland from his meetings in Dublin. His chief of staff, Marc Short, told reporters Trump had suggested it; Pence’s office later said the decision was “solely” its own. The watchdog group CREW, citing State Department contracts, put the limousine bill for the visit at $599,454.

Their response: Pence said the resort could accommodate his security detail and that his family came from Doonbeg; Short said Pence would personally pay for his mother and sister. Trump said: “I have a lot of hotels all over the place. And people use them because they’re the best.”

Sources: CNN · NPR · CREW

Campaign and party committees spent millions of donor dollars at Trump’s own businesses

$11.8M by political groups (CREW tally); donor money

Forbes, reviewing Federal Election Commission filings, found Trump’s reelection campaign moved an estimated $2.8 million of donor money to the Trump Organization, and a joint fundraising committee run with the Republican Party about $4.3 million more, between January 20, 2017 and December 31, 2020, for rent, lodging, airfare and other costs. The watchdog group CREW separately counted $11.8 million spent at Trump properties by all political groups during his term.

Their response: Representatives for the Trump Organization, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to Forbes’s requests for comment.

Sources: Forbes · CREW (Jan. 15, 2021)

Trump’s company and inaugural committee paid $750,000 to settle a suit over payments to his hotel

$750,000 settlement

Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee raised more than $107 million. The District of Columbia attorney general sued in 2020, alleging the nonprofit committee paid the Trump International Hotel about $1.03 million at above-market rates and covered a private party for Trump’s adult children. On May 3, 2022 the Trump Organization and the committee agreed to pay $750,000, which went to two youth civics nonprofits; the settlement included no admission of wrongdoing.

Their response: Trump said the settlement came “with absolutely no admission of liability or guilt” and called the case “yet another example of weaponizing Law Enforcement against the Republican Party.” A committee lawyer called the allegations “baseless” and said settling was cheaper than a trial.

Sources: DC Attorney General press release (May 3, 2022) · The New York Times · NBC News

Mar-a-Lago doubled its initiation fee to $200,000 as Trump took office

$200,000 initiation fee

Trump’s private club in Palm Beach raised its initiation fee from $100,000 to $200,000 effective January 1, 2017, CNBC reported, citing people close to the resort. The fee had been $200,000 until it was cut in 2012.

Their response: People close to the resort told CNBC an increase had been under consideration for some time. The Trump Organization did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Sources: CNBC

China approved Ivanka Trump trademarks while she worked in the White House

China awarded Ivanka Trump’s fashion brand seven new trademarks in May 2018, around the time her father pledged to help the Chinese telecom firm ZTE, CNBC reported from public records highlighted by the watchdog group CREW. In October 2018, three months after she said the brand was closing, China gave initial approval to 16 more, covering goods that included voting machines. CNBC noted the applications dated from 2016 and early 2017 and that it was not clear the pace of approval was unusual.

Their response: Abigail Klem, president of the Ivanka Trump brand, said the trademarks were filed in the “normal course of business.”

Sources: CNBC (May 29, 2018) · CNBC (Nov. 6, 2018)

Saudi fund put $2 billion into Jared Kushner’s new firm over its own advisers’ objections

$2B from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund

Six months after Jared Kushner left his White House job, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund committed $2 billion to his new private equity firm, Affinity Partners, The New York Times reported in April 2022 from internal fund documents. A screening panel had objected, citing “the inexperience of the Affinity Fund management” and due diligence it found “unsatisfactory in all aspects,” and was overruled days later by the fund’s board, which is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The same documents showed a $1 billion commitment to former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s new fund.

Their response: A spokesman for Kushner’s firm said: “Affinity, like many other top investment firms, is proud to have PIF and other leading organizations that have careful screening criteria, as investors.” The Times noted no law bars such investments by former officials.

Sources: The New York Times · House Oversight Democrats, “White House for Sale” report

Watchdog group counted more than 3,700 conflicts of interest in Trump’s term

Up to $160M from business abroad (CREW estimate; not government payments)

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group that also sued Trump, tallied more than 3,700 conflicts of interest between his businesses and his office over four years, including 547 visits by Trump to his own properties and visits by 150 officials from 77 foreign governments. In April 2023 CREW estimated from his tax returns that Trump made up to $160 million from business in foreign countries while president, led by the United Kingdom ($58 million), Canada ($36.5 million) and Ireland ($24.4 million). That figure is commercial income from his overseas properties and deals, not payments from foreign governments.

Sources: CREW, “3,700 conflicts of interest” report (Jan. 15, 2021) · CREW, “$160 million from foreign countries” analysis (Apr. 13, 2023)

Trump paid $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017, and the IRS presidential audit program sat nearly idle

The New York Times reported in September 2020, from tax-return data it obtained, that Trump paid $750 in federal income tax in each of 2016 and 2017 and none in 11 of the 18 years it examined. In December 2022 the House Ways and Means Committee, then led by Democrats, reported that the IRS’s mandatory presidential audit program started only one audit of Trump’s returns during his four years in office and completed none.

Their response: Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten told the Times “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” and said Trump had paid “tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes” over the previous decade; the Times said that appeared to mix income tax with other federal taxes.

Sources: The New York Times, key findings · The New York Times, full investigation · House Ways and Means Committee report (Dec. 20, 2022), archived copy · CBS News

Federal watchdog found at least 13 senior Trump officials broke the Hatch Act

The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency, reported on November 9, 2021 that at least 13 senior Trump administration officials violated the Hatch Act by campaigning in their official roles before the 2020 election, and that they did so “with the administration’s approval.” Those named include Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, chief of staff Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner, Kellyanne Conway and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. The agency concluded that holding the Republican convention at the White House did not in itself break the law, and that only Trump could have disciplined the officials.

Sources: Office of Special Counsel report (Nov. 9, 2021), archived copy · The Washington Post

Trump removed or replaced five inspectors general in six weeks

Between April 3 and May 15, 2020, Trump removed or replaced the top internal watchdogs for the intelligence community and the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services, Transportation and State. Two were confirmed inspectors general who were dismissed (Michael Atkinson, who had handled the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, and the State Department’s Steve Linick); three were acting officials who were replaced, among them Christi Grimm, whose office had reported hospital supply shortages in the pandemic. Congressional Democrats called the moves retaliation, and a bipartisan group of senators asked for a fuller explanation of Atkinson’s firing.

Their response: Trump told Congress he no longer had the “fullest confidence” in Atkinson, and he called Grimm’s report “just wrong.”

Sources: CBS News · PolitiFact

Trump pardoned convicted allies and his son-in-law’s father before leaving office

Justice Department records show Trump pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn (November 25, 2020); longtime adviser Roger Stone, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner (all December 23, 2020); and former strategist Steve Bannon (January 19, 2021), who had been charged with fraud conspiracy and not sentenced. He had already commuted Stone’s prison term in July 2020. In May 2025 the Senate confirmed Charles Kushner as ambassador to France by 51-45.

Their response: The White House said Manafort was one of “the most prominent victims of what has been revealed to be perhaps the greatest witch hunt in American history” and that Charles Kushner’s “record of reform and charity” overshadowed his conviction.

Sources: Justice Department, pardons granted by President Trump 2017-2021 · Justice Department, commutations granted by President Trump 2017-2021 · White House statement on clemency (Dec. 23, 2020) · U.S. Senate roll call votes, 119th Congress, 1st session