Democrats are throwing fundraisers and other events at a Washington, D.C. hotel formerly owned by Donald Trump as a way to “stick it” to the ex-president, Politico reported.
Trump sold his lease at the Old Post Office Building after his Trump International Hotel struggled to turn a profit following the end of his presidency, and it was rebranded as the Waldorf Astoria.
“Now, spending time there has become a way for the Democratic elite to stick it to the former president,” Politico wrote.
“Democratic donors, staffers and lawmakers have thrown fundraisers and holiday parties at The Bazaar. They’ve popped in for morning coffees and after-work drinks at the hotel bar — where TVs are no longer all tuned into Fox News.”
“The expression that a couple of people used was, ‘We’ve turned Trump Tower blue,’” Chip Forrester, a member of the Biden Finance Committee, told Politico. The group held an event there Thursday.
The Trump International Hotel was used during his presidency by diplomats, business people and others looking to curry favor with Trump. "Being in the Trump hotel’s lobby is a way to get people to know you,” a former Trump campaign adviser told Time Magazine.
Because of that, the business drew many allegations of potential conflicts of interest.
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But after Trump left the White House, that business was lost and he sold his share.
“It wasn’t lost on anyone that just a few short years ago this was jam packed full of Trump supporters,” said another person at Thursday’s meeting.
“There was a little bit of wisecracking [among donors] about, ‘Oh, I wish they could get rid of all the gold leaf stuff. It’s really opulent and could we tone it down a little,’” Forrester told Politico.
“But then they would say, ‘Yeah, but it’s ours now.’”
