President Trump has maintained a bank account in China for years pursuing hotel deals and other business projects in the region, a report said Wednesday.
The bank account was maintained by Trump International Hotels Management LLC, and citing an analysis of the president’s tax records, the New York Times reported that between 2013 and 2015, 188,561 taxes were paid in China. China, Britain and Ireland are the only countries outside the United States where Trump maintains a bank account.
Alan Garten, an attorney for the Trump organization, told the Times that the company had “opened a bank account with the intention of paying local taxes as it sought to explore the potential of hotel deals in Asia.” It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
“No deals, transactions or other business activities have ever materialized and since 2015, these office fees have been dormant,” Garrett said. “However, the bank account remains open, it has not been used for any other purpose.”
The existence of a bank account surfaced when Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate for Trump and his son Hunter’s foreign business in the campaign, was attacked. Trump has called the Biden family a “criminal venture” since the recent campaign closed.
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In response to the report, Eric Trump, who serves as executive vice president at the Trump Organization, accused the media of trying to get people’s attention with questions about Biden’s dealings.
“The media is doing everything in its power to divert attention from the Biden family’s alleged criminal activity,” Eric Trump said in a statement. “It’s very simple – when my father became president of the United States, we moved away from international business. When Hunter Biden’s father became vice president, he set foot in international business.
According to the New York Times, Trump’s tax records show an investment of at least 192 192,000 in five companies conducting business deals in China.
Critics have accused Hunter Biden of taking advantage of his father’s influence as vice president during the Obama administration to enrich himself. Emails taken from laptops that were intentionally Hunter Biden’s gave details of his alleged dealings with collaborators in China and Ukraine.
Biden has denied that he or his son was involved in any wrongdoing, saying during the first presidential debate last month that “the allegations have been completely discredited.” Biden’s own tax records do not disclose any personal business interests in China.
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Trump has taken a tougher stance on economic policy toward China since he took power in China after imposing economic tariffs on Beijing as a result of a protracted trade war. The president has repeatedly blamed China for the global economic downturn during the coronavirus epidemic, often referring to COVID-19 as the “China virus.”
The president’s tax history has been under scrutiny since he first announced his candidacy for office in 2015. The New York Times previously reported that Trump paid only 50,750 in federal income tax in 2016.
Brooke Singman of Fox News contributed to this report.
