“It is very much in the character of Donald Trump to violate the entire regime governing gifts from foreign states,” Raskin said. He added that “Trump is exactly someone the framers had in mind” when they included the emoluments clauses in the Constitution, which prohibit any federal office holder from accepting any type of gift from a foreign state without the consent of Congress to avoid American policy is dictated by foreigners.
The report also raised issues related to a household gift. He cited an email exchange from January 15, 2021, in which Trump’s top White House ethics attorney, Scott Gast, expressed concern that a Mac Pro computer belonging to Mr. Cook, which was valued at $ 5,999, had been a gift to the United States government, not Mr. Trump. Gifts given to the government are considered government property and cannot be taken by officials.
In response, a Trump aide, Desiree Thompson Sayle, said: “Well, we can’t find it.”
A year later, on Trump’s financial disclosure forms, he listed the computer among the gifts he had received and kept. The episode somewhat echoed a dispute involving former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton after they left the White House in 2001. They were accused of taking a White House sofa, rug, and chairs. that they had been turned over to the government, not to them. The Clintons eventually returned the furniture.
A spreadsheet compiled by White House aides in the waning days of the Trump administration listed the gifts Trump needed to decide whether to keep them. Among the items he had already decided to accept and release publicly was a gold pendant necklace he had received during a trip to Saudi Arabia in 2017.
The necklace, valued at $6,400, was “on a moving truck to Mar-a-Lago,” according to the spreadsheet. There is no evidence that Trump paid for the necklace. In response to questions from the committee, the National Archives said they believed they were in possession of the necklace, but had not stopped by their warehouse to find it.
matthew cullen contributed reporting.