The family business · First term · № 24
Kabila government envoys and the chairman of state miner Gecamines spent $25,171 at Trump's Washington hotel
- Date
- , Mazars USA accounting records cited in the House Oversight Democrats' report "White House for Sale"
- Subject
- DR Congo
- Benefit
- Gifts and payments
- Government
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Beneficiary
- Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. (Trump Organization)
- Amount
- $25,171
- Topic
- Ethics & conflicts
- Era
- First term
What happened
Between September 2017 and March 2018, representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's government spent $25,171 over six stays at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, according to Mazars USA records cited in the House Oversight Democrats' January 2024 report. The stays included four by Raymond Tshibanda, President Joseph Kabila's special envoy to the United States (September 10 to 16, 2017, $6,439; September 25, 2017, $1,356; November 26 to December 4, 2017, $8,638; December 20 to 21, 2017, $1,496), one by Ambassador Francois Balumuene (October 12, 2017, $1,600) and one by Albert Yuma, chairman of the state-owned mining company Gecamines (March 13 to 16, 2018, $5,642). Foreign Agents Registration Act filings show the Livingston Group arranged meetings for Tshibanda with State Department officials on September 14, 2017 and for a DRC delegation with U.S. officials and members of Congress from November 28 to December 1, 2017, as Kabila remained in power past the constitutional end of his term. The report notes that in July 2017 the U.S. threatened further sanctions on those obstructing a transition, and that UN Ambassador Nikki Haley visited Kabila in late 2017 and pressed him to cede power. Freedom House rated the DRC Not Free in its 2017 and 2018 reports.
Sources
- White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump
- Oversight Democrats Release Report Proving Trump Pocketed Millions From At Least 20 Foreign Governments As President
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: Freedom in the World 2017 Country Report
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: Freedom in the World 2018 Country Report