Donald Trump's son Eric Trump fired back Thursday at a report by Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability that claims the former president pocketed millions of dollars from foreign governments while in office.
The report, titled "White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump" was released on Thursday and details how Donald Trump allegedly violated Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, which states in part, "No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."
The report claims Trump pocketed $7.8 million "from foreign states and their leaders, including some of the world's most unsavory regimes." The report follows an investigation launched in 2016 by then-ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who died in 2019.
"What a joke!" Eric Trump wrote in a post on X, referencing a report on the topic by MSNBC. "All foreign government profits, for stays at our hotels and other properties while my father was in office, were voluntarily donated to the United States Treasury. Just another example of @MSNBC counter-narrative for the most corrupt family in political history — The Bidens."
The report claims Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., who is leading an impeachment inquiry into alleged influence peddling by President Joe Biden and members of his family, "allowed former President Trump's attorneys to speak on behalf of the committee and bury evidence by stopping the production of additional responsive records."
Newsmax reached out to Comer for comment, but he told The New York Times that "former President Trump has legitimate businesses, but the Bidens do not," adding the Bidens made more than three times as much as the new records show Trump had from foreign governments and "no goods or services were provided other than access to Joe Biden and the Biden network."
The report also claims China made the largest total payments at Trump-owned properties with $5,572,548 from China's embassy in Washington, telecommunications equipment provider Huawei, Hainan Airlines, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
In an email to the Times, Eric Trump said the Chinese bank mentioned in the report had signed a 20-year lease at Trump Tower in 2008, long before his father took office. He wrote it was clear his father had not allowed his personal business incentives to dictate his policy toward Beijing, citing tariffs imposed on China's goods and services.
"That narrative is insane," Eric Trump wrote, according to the Times. "there is no president in United States history who was tougher on China than Donald Trump."