Trump financial disclosure details income and finances
The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) released President Trump's financial disclosure form Friday, revealing assets of his trust and details of post-election finances. The 98-page release, which covers the period from January 2016 through this spring, came shortly after 5 p.m.
In the release, Mr. Trump outlines the financial health of the business assets he placed into a trust when he took office. The report shows Mr. Trump resigned from more than 500 positions -- many of them a day before his inauguration as president. He listed at least $315 million in liabilities, about the same as in a report he filed last year. Among those liabilities is $80,000,000 - $175,000,000 in mortgages and loans from Deutsche Bank.
The documents have added importance because Mr. Trump isn't following the long tradition of presidential candidates and office-holding of making public his tax returns. Those returns provide more complete financial information than the personal financial disclosures, which only include broad ranges for income and debts.
The president's golf courses have been very lucrative, especially Trump National Doral, in Miami, which brought in $115,865,590. The disclosure also says that Mr. Trump listed $37,251,635 in "resort related revenue" from Mar-a-Lago and $19,752,500 in "golf related revenue" from Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Mar-a-Lago's initiation fee doubled after Mr. Trump was elected -- from $100,000 to $200,000 -- effective on Jan. 1, 2017.
Mr. Trump's income from his Mar-a-Lago resort increased by $7.4 million over the past year -- over the same length of time beginning in Jan. 2015, Mr. Trump reported $29.8 million in revenue from the club.
His income from his course in New Jersey slightly decreased from the $20.6 million reported last year.
Mr. Trump declared $19,666,129 in "hotel-related revenue" from the Washington, D.C. Trump International Hotel, which was opened in mid-September 2016. The hotel is the subject of lawsuits that charge that the hotel, among other business interests is a violation of the emoluments clause, which is intended to prevent foreign governments from influencing government officials with improper presents or payments.
His Washington-area golf club in Potomac Falls, Virginia, brought in $17,508,270 in golf-related revenue.
The president also disclosed between $1,000,000 - $5,000,000 in royalties from his book, "Crippled America," which was published in 2015, the year he announced his presidential campaign.
One of the odder entries was this, his pension from the Screen Actors Guild (this line item also appeared on his last financial disclosure) – paying $84,000 -- presumably from his former job as the host of "The Apprentice."
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement, "President Trump welcomed the opportunity to voluntarily file his personal financial disclosure form; while this filing is voluntary (as no report was due until May 2018), it has been certified by the Office of Government Ethics pursuant to its normal procedures."
This is a developing story.
