President Trump's company is now eyeing a second Trump Hotel in the nation's capital, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Trump opened his first hotel, the Trump International Hotel, while he was on the campaign trail last fall. The potential second hotel would be "more affordable" than the existing luxury hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, and the Post noted that other developers would own the property, though they would pay the Trump Organization for "licensing rights and management."
Already, Trump's first hotel in Washington, D.C., has raised a plethora of ethics and conflicts of interest questions. The first event at Trump International Hotel was an official press conference called by Trump, then a presidential candidate, during which he noted the "brand-new ballroom" and deemed the hotel "one of the great hotels anywhere in the world." Since then, Trump has wined and dined his administration at the hotel, which resides on property leased by the federal government. Foreign embassies and political groups have also stayed at the hotel.
Though Trump initially promised that "no new deals" would be made by his company while he was in office, he later backed off of that pledge when he announced in January he was handing his business over to his sons. Instead, Trump said he would impose "severe new restrictions" on any new deals in the U.S.
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The second D.C. hotel is far from a done deal, but it's apparently one of several hotels the Trump Organization is considering opening across the country under its new Scion brand. Eric Danziger, chief executive of the Trump Organization's hotel division, told The Washington Post he has "signed 'over 30' letters of intent — preliminary agreements — with developers to open Scions in cities across the country."
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