Saudi swords, Indian jewellery: Trump failed to disclose $300,000 foreign gifts, says House Democrats’ report

US House Democrats in a report said that former president Donald Trump failed to disclose gifts received from foreign government officials while in office, as required by the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act.

An interim staff report by US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability presents the preliminary findings of an investigation launched in 2022. 

Unreported foreign gifts that former President Trump received totaled more than $150,000 in estimated value. The Committee discovered 13 more unreported foreign gifts with a combined estimated worth of more than $22,000 that were sent to both former President Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump.

Barron Trump and the former first lady Melania Trump received 18 undisclosed presents from abroad with a combined approximate value of more than $33,000. Together, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, and their kids got 33 undisclosed presents worth close to $82,000. Records show that the First Family, including Trump, received 117 undisclosed gifts from abroad totaling almost $291,000 in total.

Records indicated that the Trump family got 17 unreported gifts from India with a total estimated value of more than $47,000. The presents included a $8,500 vase, a $4,600 Taj Mahal model, and $1,900 in cufflinks.

The State Department, according to the report, did not include any foreign presents that President Trump received in its inadequate annual list of gifts received from abroad.

Democrats on the committee asked for documents from the General Services Administration (GSA) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in order to assess the scope of the failure to disclose foreign gifts and whether or not these unreported gifts may have had an impact on US foreign policy during the Trump Administration.

Gifts from President Xi Jinping of China, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, and other foreign government leaders are among the undisclosed foreign presents. According to the Committee’s investigation, the Trump family received 17 presents from Saudi Arabia worth a combined total of over $48,000 that were not disclosed to the State Department.

The discovery of these undisclosed presents from foreign governments prompts important inquiries about why former President Trump did not declare these gifts to the public as required by law, the report said. 

The Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act forbids the President and federal representatives from retaining personal presents from foreign governments that exceed the “minimum value,” which is presently fixed at $415. The law requires that all foreign gifts over the minimal value be publicly disclosed, regardless of their final disposition. 

This is just one of the several controversies that have recently surrounded Trump. In the most recent instance, Trump might be “arrested” for allegedly paying Stormy Daniels, whose actual name is Stephanie Clifford, $130,000 in hush money prior to the 2016 election to prevent her from disclosing an alleged romance with Trump years earlier.

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