By Wayne Barber
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not patronized Trump hotels or other businesses since Donald Trump became president, the regulator officially told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
In an Aug. 8 letter to NRC Chair Kristine Svinicki, Democrats on the committee asked if the agency had expended funds “on products or services provided by businesses owned by or affiliated with the Trump Organization.”
“We are not aware of any instance of NRC expenditure of Federal funds on products or services from the Trump Organization,” the director of the NRC’s Office of Congressional Affairs, Eugene Dacus, responded in an Aug. 16 letter.
Likewise, NRC found no record of doing business with any entity “in which the Trump Organization has any licensing agreement or similar contractual relations,” according to the NRC reply.
The committee Democrats’ letter is part of a broader inquiry, led by panel Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), regarding the amount of government money being spent at businesses associated with the president’s family.
The letter cited press reports that the State and Defense departments have done business with organizations affiliated with the president’s family.
State reportedly booked 19 rooms at the new Trump hotel in Vancouver when members of Trump’s family headlined the grand opening of the tower in late February, Democrats said. Officials from Foggy Bottom reportedly also spent $9,510 for hotel rooms to assist the Secret Service during Eric Trump’s business trip to Uruguay in early January. There have also been published reports that the Defense Department has been renting space in Trump Tower, the Democrats said.
Committee Democrats sent largely identical letters to Energy Secretary Rick Perry and to all other Cabinet secretaries and federal agency heads.
It was unknown at press time if DOE has formally responded to the inquiry. The letters sent to federal entities asks that they reply to the request for information by Aug. 25.
When contacted, a spokesman for Cummings said he doubted the congressman would have any feedback on the process until after that date.
The Democrats, who are the minority on the panel and in the House of Representatives, said in a news release that Trump has not elected to put his assets into a “blind trust.”
Trump is the first president in four decades “not to liquidate his assets and place them in a truly blind and diversified trust,” the committee Democrats said. “Instead President Trump has placed his assets in a revocable trust from which he can withdraw any amount of money he wants whenever he chooses to do so.”
While the letters to the federal offices copied committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) it does not appear he was a signatory.
“The American people deserve to know how their tax dollars are spent, including the amount of federal funds that are being provided to private businesses owned by the President and the purposes of these expenditures,” according to the Oversight Committee Democrats. “The President’s financial entanglements make it impossible to know whether he is making his decisions in the public interest or to benefit to him or his family members financially.”
