Administration

New financial disclosure forms provide glimpses of Trump’s wealth

President Trump’s financial disclosure forms detailing income from various properties and assets during 2018 were released Thursday, providing a snapshot of the president’s finances as he faces scrutiny for refusing to release his tax returns.

The 88-page document, published by the Office of Government Ethics, showed mixed performances for some of the president’s most high-profile properties, and revealed that he received a loan for between $5 million and $25 million for a south Florida property.

{mosads}The president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., a frequent weekend destination for the president during the winter, saw its revenue decline to $23 million, down roughly $3 million from 2017, the documents show.

Trump reported nearly $41 million in income from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., roughly the same amount as a year earlier. The property is located a few blocks from the White House, and has become a hot spot for lobbyists, foreign officials and political insiders.

Trump National Golf Club in Northern Virginia brought in $13 million in 2018, the forms showed, a slight increase from 2017. The president often visits the club during weekends spent in Washington, D.C. 

The president reported taking in nearly $76 million at Trump National Doral. That figure is up slightly from 2017’s reported income, but The Washington Post reported Wednesday that business at the Miami resort has been in decline since he ran for office. Trump reported more than $130 million in income at the property in 2015.

Trump’s total earnings from 2018 were not immediately clear as the form only requires ranges, but multiple news outlets reported the president had an income of at least $420 million for the year.

Trump’s 2016 financial disclosure form showed that he earned $598 million in 2016 and had a minimum net worth of $1.1 billion. In 2017, he reported revenues of $453 million and assets worth at least $1.4 billion.

The financial disclosure documents provide a snapshot of the president’s finances, given that they require signees to only enter a range of numbers in many cases and do not include net profits or losses.

Trump’s financial disclosure forms have become an important window into his financial background after he broke with decades of precedent and refused to release his tax returns when campaigning for office, citing an ongoing audit.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) in April requested six years worth of Trump’s personal and business tax returns from the IRS under a provision of the tax code that states that the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” tax returns requested by the chairmen of Congress’s tax-writing committees.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin signaled Wednesday that the administration would not comply with House Democrats’ subpoena for the president’s taxes.

White House officials and GOP allies of the president regularly cite the president’s financial disclosure forms in arguing he has been adequately transparent about his finances.

But Democrats and watchdog groups have raised concerns that Trump may be hiding conflicts of interest or profiting off the presidency.

Trump roiled critics when, upon taking office in 2017, he declined to place his assets in a blind trust and instead turned over control of his business empire to his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.