Eric Trumps business trip to Uruguay

cost taxpayers $97,830 in hotel bills

Eric Trump and members of his entourage walk outside La Huella,

a beachfront restaurant, during a private business trip in early
January to Punta del Este, Uruguay. (Cristian Cordoba)
By Amy Brittain and Drew Harwell February 3 at 9:58 PM

When the president-elects son Eric Trump jetted to Uruguay in

early January for a Trump Organization promotional trip, U.S.
taxpayers were left footing a bill of nearly $100,000 in hotel
rooms for Secret Service and embassy staff.
It was a high-profile jaunt out of the country for Eric, the fresh-
faced executive of the Trump Organization who, like his father,
pledged to keep the company separate from the presidency. Eric
mingled with real estate brokers, dined at an open-air beachfront
eatery and spoke to hundreds at an ultra exclusive Trump Tower
Punta del Este evening party celebrating his visit.
The Uruguayan trip shows how the government is unavoidably
entangled with the Trump company as a result of the presidents
refusal to divest his ownership stake. In this case, government
agencies are forced to pay to support business operations that
ultimately help to enrich the president himself. Though the
Trumps have pledged a division of business and government, they
will nevertheless depend on the publicly funded protection
granted to the first family as they travel the globe promoting their
brand.
[An early test of Trumps ethics pledge is a glittering new foreign
tower]
A spokeswoman for Eric Trump declined to make him available for
an interview and did not provide answers to a list of detailed
questions about the trip.
Eric Trumps trip in early January to the coastal resort town
appeared to be brief perhaps as short as two nights, according
to a review of local press clips and social media.
The bill for the Secret Services hotel rooms in Uruguay totaled
$88,320. The U.S. Embassy in Montevideo, the capital city of
Uruguay, paid an additional $9,510 for its staff to stay in hotel
rooms to support the Secret Service detail for the VIP visit,
according to purchasing orders reviewed by The Washington Post.
Trump and members of his entourage walk outside La Huella, a
beachfront restaurant, during a private business trip in early
January to Punta del Este, Uruguay. (Cristian Cordoba)
This is an example of the blurring of the line between the
personal interest in the family business and the government,
said Kathleen Clark, an expert on government ethics and law
professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
Despite the use of public funds, government agencies would not
provide key details connected to the trip, including the duration of
the stay, the name of the hotel or the number of booked rooms. A
spokesman from the Secret Service, citing security concerns,
declined to comment.
The money for the hotel rooms was paid through the State
Department, but a spokesman there declined to comment on the
trip. He instead referred reporters to the White House and back to
the Secret Service, whose spokesman once again declined to
comment. The White House also did not respond to requests for
comment.
There is a public benefit to providing Secret Service protection,
Clark said. But what was the public benefit from State
Department personnel participating in this private business trip to
the coastal town? It raises the specter of the use of public
resources for private gain.
Immediate family members of presidents have for decades been
guaranteed taxpayer-funded safeguards, and their safety is
paramount to national security, especially as they travel to
foreign and potentially dangerous hot spots.
In 1917, Congress first authorized the then-Secret Service Division
of the U.S. Treasury Department to protect the immediate family
of the president. In 1984, a statute extended that protection for
other key individuals, including the immediate family of the vice
president.
Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton even authorized Secret
Service protection for their adult daughters for an unspecified
period of time after the presidents left office.
The Secret Service does not have an option as to when it is,
where it is, nor as to how much it costs, and whether its domestic
or international, said W. Ralph Basham, former director of the
service. Think about the consequences of something happening
to one of the children. The security of it outweighs the expenses
of it.
While Eric Trump was in Uruguay, the full presence of U.S.
security operations did not go unnoticed by the local media and
paparazzi.
La Nacin, an Argentine publication, began its article about the
visit with a scene-setter describing two Secret Service
agents inside the Punta del Este showroom. Four more agents
tried, unsuccessfully, to blend in with the crowd of real estate
buyers outside, La Nacin wrote.
A local photographer encountered Eric Trump at La Huella, a
restaurant described as the ultimate in chic beach eating and
renowned for its grilled seafood entrees.
He had lunch there for about an hour and a half with some
friends and acquaintances, photographer Cristian Cordoba said
in an email to The Post. Secret Service was very close by
monitoring. He was very kind and courteous with everyone that
wanted to say hi to him. He even shook my hand after I took his
picture. He said he loved the food and the place and would love to
come back.

A well-known pop singer from Argentina, Maxi Trusso, performed

at the Punta del Este party honoring Eric Trump. Trusso later told
the local press that he wrote a song about Donald Trump at Erics
request. Trusso titled the composition Free and Stronger. He also
said that he was invited to sing at the inauguration but declined
the offer.
The Trumps, who do not own the Punta del Este project, licensed
their name to its developers, who have paid Trumps company
between $100,000 and $1 million, according to Trumps financial
disclosure filing in May.
The 26-story tower is under construction. Its condos which start
at $550,000 and climb to $8 million are expected to be finished
in late 2018. Tower advertisements list amenities including
waterfall pools, a massage room and a private theater.

Boys kick a soccer ball on La Brava beach in front of a Trump

Tower under construction on Jan. 17 in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
(Matilde Campodonico/AP)
A janitor mops the entrance to the showroom at the Trump Tower
under construction in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on Jan. 17.
Covered regulation tennis courts at the tower will include
spectator seating and intelligent climate control. (Matilde
Campodonico/AP)
The showroom bathroom is shown at Trump Tower in Punta del
Este, Uruguay. The tower will have two indoor heated pools, a spa,
sauna, Scottish shower, massage room, private theater, private
wine cellar and the buildings own market. (Matilde
Campodonico/AP)
The developer, YY Development Group, did not respond to
requests for comment. But the chief executive, Juan Jose
Cugliandolo, told the Associated Press last month that two-thirds
of the condos were sold. Cugliandolo said of Eric Trumps trip, It
honors us that he would come this summer, days before his father
takes office, the Associated Press reported.
During an interview on the trip, Eric Trump fielded questions from
the local media about political issues, including the president of
Argentina and how his policies had affected the Trump property in
Uruguay.
I dont speak politics, he said, according to a video of the
interview. Its not my world. Im a business guy.
But the reporter pressed again, and Eric Trump said that he had a
favorable opinion of Argentinas president for opening up the
country, which had helped business and helped the economy of
Uruguay and Argentina.
He was also asked about his father and if he would ever join the
administration. Eric Trump told La Nacin that the relationship
between the Trump Organization and his fathers administration
would be completely separate, like church and state.
Eric Trump is flanked by YY Development Group chief executive
Juan Jose Cugliandolo, left, and group owner Moises Yellati outside
Trump Tower, which is under construction in Punta del Este,
Uruguay, on Jan. 3. Its 154 apartments plus two penthouses are
scheduled to be finished in late 2018. (YY Development Group/via
AP)
But ethical experts say that the steps Donald Trump announced to
facilitate such a separation, including placing his business into a
trust overseen by Eric, Donald Trump Jr. and a longtime company
executive, are not enough to eliminate concerns about conflicts of
interest.
Having refused to sever his own personal financial interests, [the
president] is now sending his emissaries, his sons, out to line his
own pockets, and hes subsidizing that activity with taxpayer
dollars, said Norm Eisen, a former Obama administration ethics
adviser who is part of a lawsuit accusing Trump of violating a
constitutional provision barring presidents from taking payments
from foreign governments.
It is unusual, although not unprecedented, for trips of presidential
family members to focus on the development of private money-
making opportunities.
In 1989, Jeb Bush drew criticism after he traveled to Nigeria on a
business trip less than two months after his father, George H.W.
Bush, was sworn in as president.
[Jeb Bush dogged by decades of questions about business deals]
The presidents children should not be deprived of career
opportunities just because they are members of the first family,
the White House press secretary said in 1989.
Jeb Bush, through his spokeswoman, declined an interview
request.
During his interview with the media in Uruguay, Eric was asked
about how his life would change under his fathers administration.
Were going to have an amazing company, and hes going to do
amazing things for the United States, he said to the local media.
Hes going to be an incredible commander in chief. And Im not
going to be involved in politics, and hes not going to be involved
in the business.
He also said that once his father moved to Washington, he would
be headed back to New York to run the company with his brother.
But there are early signs that Eric and Don Jr. will be spending
plenty of time in Washington.

View image on Twitter

Follow

Eric Trump
@EricTrump
Leaving Punta Del Este en route
home! @TrumpTowerPDE#Uruguay #GreatTrip
6:23 PM - 5 Jan 2017
367367 Retweets
2,2202,220 likes
Several days ago, the brothers sat side-by-side in the front row
during Trumps White House announcement of Neil Gorsuch as his
nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. Afterward, Don Jr. posted on
social media that he had enjoyed chatting with Gorsuch about
their shared love for fly-fishing.

Donald Trump has a lot of potential conflicts of interest as

president but there's no law that specifically requires a
commander in chief to remove themselves from all of their
business interests. The Fix's Peter W. Stevenson explains why
presidents usually put their assets in a "blind trust" to avoid
problems. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)
Later this month, Eric and Don Jr. are expected to travel to
Vancouver in celebration of the grand opening of the new Trump
International Hotel & Tower.
The trip is expected to bring the Trump brothers together with
wealthy Malaysian developer Tony Tiah Thee Kian and his son, Joo
Kim Tiah, head of the Vancouver project.
Richard Painter, a former chief White House ethics lawyer for
President George W. Bush who joined Eisen in the lawsuit, called
the familys Secret Service protection a worthwhile expenditure
of taxpayer money. But Painter said he worried that it could be
misread as boosting the Trump brand.
All of this has an air of legitimacy: The connection to the U.S.
government, and the suggestion that if you do business with this
company youll ingratiate yourself with the Trump administration,
Painter said. The implication is if you do a good deal with us,
youll be in good with the United States. And the Secret Service
presence just exacerbates that.
Jonnelle Marte, Carol Leonnig, Alice Crites and Julie Tate
contributed to this report.
Posted by Thavam