Thread by @DanAlexander21

1/ Remember how Trump’s team suggested he would give all profits from foreign governments to the US Treasury, as a way of acknowledging the Constitution’s emoluments clause?

I did some math for my new book. It doesn’t look like that really happened. penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623950/w…

2/ We’ll start with what the president did do. The Trump Organization, whose assets are still owned by Donald Trump, told @OConnellPostbiz and @Fahrenthold of the Washington Post, that it donated $151,470 in 2017 and $191,538 in 2018.

3/ To see whether those numbers make sense, let’s go to the 20th floor of Trump Tower, where the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China leased space from Donald Trump.

4/ A 2012 document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the lease for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China came with about $1.9 million in annual rent. Here’s a snippet.

5/ Other documents connected to the loan against Trump Tower suggest that operating expenses were about 58% of revenue in 2017 and 2018. In other words, profit margins were roughly 42%. The average of the exact percentages, according to the documents, works out to 42.062%.

6/ So that suggests that the lease with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China produced a profit of roughly $1,948,180 * 0.42062 = $819,443. in both 2017 and 2018. Add those up, and it’s an estimated $819,443 * 2 = 1,638,886 of profit from that lease in those two years.

7/ Now, the Chinese government does not own all of the bank, so we don’t want to count this as 100% foreign government money. But you can see on the company's annual report that state entities do own at least 34.71 + 34.6 + 0.68 + 0.4 + 0.28 = 70.67% of the business.

8/ Even if you only count 70.67% of the profits, you’re still left with 1,638,886 * 0.7067 = $1,158,201. million. That’s more than three times the $151,470 + $191,538 = $343,008 that the Trump Organization reportedly donated to the Treasury.

9/ And we haven’t even gotten to the dignitaries visiting the hotels. Nor have we looked at the leases involving the Qatar Investment Authority, the state-owned Bank of India, or the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.

10/ It’s still something of a mystery how exactly the Trump Organization is coming to its figures.

11/ If you read the fine print on a white paper by the firm that was representing Trump on these matters, it says he would donate “all profits from foreign governments’ patronage of his hotels and similar businesses.” Maybe they’re not counting money flowing through office space?

12/ Hard to know for sure. When I inquired about this, the Trump Organization didn't respond.

13/ One thing seems clear: The president is not, in fact, donating all profits he gets from foreign governments.

You can read more about this and other ethics issues in my new book, White House Inc. It comes out on Tuesday, but you can pre-order here: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623950/w…