By ERIC TUCKER (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s White House has didn’t report greater than 100 items from overseas nations value greater than a quarter-million {dollars}, and federal officers have been unable to discover a life-size portray of Trump given by the president of El Salvador in addition to golf golf equipment from the prime minister of Japan, in accordance with a report Friday from House Democrats.
Among the unreported gadgets are 16 items from Saudi Arabia value greater than $45,000 in all, together with a dagger valued at as much as $24,000, and 17 presents from India that embody costly cufflinks, a vase and a $4,600 mannequin of the Taj Mahal, says the report from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
Gifts above a number of hundred {dollars} that overseas officers give to the president, vice chairman and their households are required beneath the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act to be reported to the State Department. The report from House Democrats, citing State Department data, says the variety of items reported by Trump and his household are decrease than the quantity disclosed by earlier presidents.
All informed, the report says, although the White House did report some items to State between 2017 and 2019, it didn’t report greater than 100 overseas items with a complete worth of over $250,000.
The report says federal officers haven’t been in a position to find a life-size portray of Trump that, in accordance with inside White House correspondence, was commissioned by the president of El Salvador and delivered to the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador as a present to Trump simply earlier than the 2020 U.S. election. According to the report, the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador alerted U.S. officers to the reward and requested assist in delivery it.
The report says that “there are no records of the painting’s disposition” by the National Archives and Records Administration or the General Services Administration however that some data recommend it could have been moved to Florida in July 2021 as property of Trump’s.
Also unaccounted for are 1000’s of {dollars} in golf golf equipment given to Trump in 2018 and 2019 by Shinzo Abe, then the prime minister of Japan.
“Today’s preliminary findings suggest again the Trump Administration’s brazen disregard for the rule of law and its systematic mishandling of large gifts from foreign governments, including many lavish personalized gifts that vastly exceed the statutory limit in value but were never reported — some that are still missing today,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, prime Democrat on the Oversight Committee, mentioned in a press release.
He additionally mentioned that the committee would “remain committed to following the facts to determine the extent to which former President Trump broke the law or violated the Constitution when he failed to report gifts and took possession of valuable items without paying the fair market price for them.”
A Trump spokesman didn’t instantly return an e-mail looking for remark.
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More on Donald Trump-related investigations: https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
