President Donald Trump’s controversial namesake hotel in Washington, D.C. — just a few blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House — is for sale with an asking price of as much as $500 million.
Patricia Tang, director of sales and marketing for Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C., confirmed to CBS News on Friday that real estate firm JLL has been hired to market the luxury hotel to buyers. She also confirmed the Trump Organization is hoping to get as much as $500 million for its 100-year leasing rights for the government-owned property, or about $2 million per room.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the hotel was for sale, which the news organization said is motivated in part by continued criticism that Mr. Trump and his family are flouting federal ethics rules by profiting from the property during his term in office.
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The Trump Organization opened the luxury hotel in Washington’s Old Post Office building just months before Mr. Trump was elected president in 2016 — and he has faced criticism and lawsuits ever since. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court said it would reconsider an earlier ruling that threw out a lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of illegally profiting off the presidency through his stake in the hotel.
According to Mr. Trump’s financial disclosure report, he earned more than $100 million from his properties in 2018, including almost $41 million from the Washington hotel last year.
Government ethics watchdogs say the president’s ownership of the hotel can create conflicts of interest. A Washington Post report, for instance, found a lobbying firm with ties to the Saudi government paid $270,000 to the Trump hotel in Washington between October 2016 and March 2017.
News of the Washington hotel going on the market comes as the Trump Organization seems to be making moves to distance its business from the organization’s namesake. Last week, Mr. Trump tweeted that the White House was no longer considering the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort as the host for the G-7 meeting in 2020, as had been earlier announced. The Trump name was also recently removed from two popular ice skating rinks in New York City that have long been operated by the president’s company.
