The Scoop
The owners of Donald Trump’s former hotel in Washington are quietly shopping the rights to the property, which has reemerged as a hot watering hole for the MAGA crowd and those looking to influence it.
Investment bank BDT & MSD Partners has been sounding out potential buyers for the lease to the old Trump International Hotel as it continues to negotiate with the Trump Organization, people familiar with the matter said. A deal could be worth around $300 million, a discount to the $375 million the Trump family sold it for in 2022.
The hotel, opened in a landmarked Post Office building in 2016, embodies the boom and bust of Trump’s political and commercial fortunes. During Trump’s first term, it served as a kind of bazaar for politicians, foreign officials, and executives seeking favor or access.
The hotel hosted an Azerbaijani Hanukkah party, Franklin Graham’s gathering in defense of persecuted Christians, and a delegation of Saudi officials on a monthslong lobbying push against legislation that would have allowed families of 9/11 victims to sue the kingdom, according to documents later made public by House Democrats, who investigated potential violations of presidential ethics rules.
The crowds thinned after Trump left office, and the hotel was sold to a Miami investor who reopened it as a Waldorf-Astoria. The Spa by Ivanka closed, as did the lobby boutique of Brioni, the Italian clothier whose suits Trump favors.
One thing the hotel never did was make money: It lost $74 million between 2016 and 2020, financial records show. BDT & MSD bought the debt out of foreclosure last summer for a fraction of its face value. The Wall Street Journal reported last month the Trump family’s interest in reacquiring the hotel.
A spokeswoman for BDT & MSD declined to comment. The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment.
In this article:
Liz’s view
Critics will fairly focus on the potential for graft and conflict of interest. But Trump’s self-monetization has expanded since 2021, and buying $120 (pre-inflation prices) seafood platters called the “Trump Tower” is a cumbersome way to curry favor — more efficient than buying $59.99 assassination-attempt-commemoration Bibles but less efficient than simply buying shares of his publicly traded social media site or a slug of $TRUMP coins.
Whatever happens, it’s a regrettable trade for CGI Merchant Group, which paid $375 million in 2022 for the rights to operate the property before defaulting on the loan, and a great trade for BDT & MSD, which bought the debt for $100 million in August. Wall Street thrives on volatility, and Trump brings plenty of it.
Room for Disagreement
House Democrats say small bills can add up. A 2024 report — one of a series investigating the Trump hotel during the president’s first term — detailed payments at the property totaling just over $300,000 from Secret Service agents, job seekers, and on at least five occasions, people seeking presidential pardons, “giving new meaning to the term ‘petty cash.’”
“These transactions provide a glimpse into the wide array of unlawful and unethical transactions, including flat-out violations of the Constitution, that characterized Donald Trump’s methodical exploitation of his presidency for moneymaking purposes,” the group headed by Rep. Jamie Raskin said in October.