House Democrats have claimed the lavish gifts include a Saudi dagger, golf clubs and a painting of the former US president himself.
Former US President Donald Trump and his family failed to report more than 100 gifts worth nearly $300,000, House Democrats said Friday, raising questions about whether that could have affected policy outside Washington.
According to a new interim Democratic staff report released by Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight Committee, the undisclosed gifts include 16 gifts from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, with a Saudi dagger valued at up to $24,000 and two sets of swords with a total value of $8,800 listed among other things.
Other allegedly unreported gifts include a larger-than-life painting of Trump commissioned by the president of El Salvador, a $4,600 model of India’s Taj Mahal, golf clubs from former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe , as well as books and art. articles by Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“In total, records indicate that former President Trump and the first family received 117 undeclared foreign gifts valued at approximately $291,000,” the report states.
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This discovery “raises important questions about why former President Trump did not disclose these gifts to the public, as required by federal law,” the report argues. He was referring to the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, which requires US officials to disclose all such gifts that exceed a certain minimum value, which is currently set at $415.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), the panel’s ranking member, accused the Trump administration of “blatant disregard for the rule of law” and “systematic mismanagement of large gifts from foreign governments.”
He also noted that some important gifts, including a portrait of Trump from El Salvador, were missing, adding that House Democrats are determined to find out whether the gifts “could have been used to influence the president in his conduct of the foreign policy of the United States”.
The allegations come after the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee on Thursday released records alleging that members of US President Joe Biden’s family received more than $1 million from an associate who had business with a Chinese energy company.
That sum was said to have been split between the president’s son Hunter Biden, his brother James Biden and his daughter-in-law Hallie Biden. The president himself dismissed the allegation as “not true,” while the White House spokesman accused House Republicans of “outlandishly attacking” the Biden family.
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