There's a good reason for this. A corporation is planning to build a hotel on that site, right across from his hotel. The competition would cost him money. And as king of the United States, he gets to insert stuff like that into other bills.
Yes, he's been trying to sell the lease on that hotel. I haven't heard the reason for wanting to sell it. One of his sons said it's making lots of money, but I don't know whether to believe that. I think I find what a real estate developer named Brian Friedman said more convincing.
January 3, 2020
Potential buyer for Trump’s D.C. hotel lease says it’s underperforming and unrealistically priced
After touring the Trump hotel recently, Friedman said the building was in “amazing” condition. Friedman added that the property was underperforming and Trump was smart to try to sell his interest in it while he is in the White House because the hotel’s business could worsen once he leaves office.
The hotel was only about 57% occupied in 2019, well below competitors, according to marketing materials issued by a real estate firm hired by Trump’s company.
“I think he has to sell before he gets out of office because it’s not going to get better – it’s going to get worse,” Friedman said.
Trump spent an estimated $210 million renovating the hotel. His company issued a statement saying it will try to sell the property for as much as $500 million – a number Friedman said was unrealistic.
Several good points are raised there. If it had an 57% occupancy rate in 2019, surely that rate would be lower in 2020 after coronavirus hit. If it was "underperforming" in January this year, it must be drastically underperforming now. If Trump wanted to ditch it in January, he must be getting desperate to sell now even if the potential sale was put on hold in March. It's an albatross around his neck.
A competing hotel across the street would make Trump's hotel even less valuable. If Friedman thought $500 million was too high back in January,
that means there is no way Trump could get that much for it if a competing hotel was built across the street.
Some of the guests at that hotel are there as a way of currying favor with the President. That business would evaporate when Trump leaves office. The Republican Party would not be spending there.
January 22, 2020
Trump inaugural committee illegally enriched president's hotel, DC Attorney General lawsuit says
The suit claims that the nonprofit inaugural committee violated laws barring the use of charitable funds to enrich private individuals when it agreed to pay Trump’s hotel more than $1 million for the use of ballroom space during the January 2017 inaugural festivities.
The lawsuit alleges that the Trump inaugural committee knowingly misused its funds when it paid $175,000 per day to reserve the ballroom of the Trump hotel for four days during the president’s inauguration week but held only two events there, one of which was only for Trump’s adult children and their guests.
The courts can decide the legalities of that lawsuit. The point in question now is that kind of spending would cease when Trump leaves office. It seems clear to me that Trump would like to unload the lease to the hotel before election day. If a competitor announces it has signed a deal before election day and Trump goes on to lose, he'd be lucky to recoup the $210 million he spent on remodeling. I think he's probably losing money on it daily now. He's probably losing money at his other hotels.
April 15, 2020
https://www.bizjournals.com/washing...el-files-layoff-notices-for-d-c-property.html
The Trump International Hotel in downtown D.C. has filed a layoff notice affecting 237 employees.
The notice was filed with the District’s Department of Employment Services on April 3 and took effect the same day, but it only appeared on the Department’s public website of Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices Wednesday.
Trump is engaging in wishful thinking again. Trying to get that new FBI building into this bill managed to annoy even Republicans. The writing is on the wall. Savvy Republicans know Trump is probably going to lose so there's no reason for them to kowtow to him on this. They don't care if Trump loses money at that hotel -- some may even privately relish the idea of denying Trump's fantastic request.
