By Dorothy Atkins

Law360 (April 22, 2020, 3:20 PM EDT) -- Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday called for the General Services Administration to "finally stand up to the president" and reject Trump Hotel's rent reduction requests, following a report that the Trump Organization has asked for a break on lease payments due to business losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement, House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Gerald Connolly, D-Va., said the federal government should have ended the lease with the 263-room luxury hotel, which is located in the federally owned Old Post Office building, when Donald Trump was sworn in as president. They said the deal violates the lease's own terms, which explicitly bars contracts with public officials.

"Instead, President Trump has been violating this contract for three years while GSA ignores the law," the statement said.

Now, the hotel is seeking rent reductions from the GSA, which in turn reports to the president, due to the drop in business caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak, the lawmakers said, citing a New York Times article published Tuesday.

"Our committee and ethics experts across the political spectrum have long warned of these blatant conflicts of interest, and it is time for GSA to finally stand up to the president and grant no rent reductions for the Trump Hotel," the statement says.

The demand comes after the GSA Office of the Inspector General issued a damning report in January 2019 recognizing that the president's business interest in the hotel's lease raised issues under the Constitution's emoluments clause, which restricts how the president and other government officials can profit off holding office, that might cause a breach of the lease.

The report also found "serious shortcomings" in the GSA's decision-making processes relating to the possible breach of the lease and recognized that the "constitutional issues surrounding the president's business interests in the lease remain unresolved."

In response, in April 2019, then-committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings, D-Md., and Connolly sent a letter to the GSA, requesting documents relating to the Trump Organization's lease with the federal government for the Trump Hotel.

But the lawmakers said Tuesday that GSA attorneys have decided to ignore the emoluments issues and the GSA has not produced a single document relating to its investigation, even though its Subcommittee on Government Operations held a hearing in June to address any obstacles hindering the GSA's progress.

The lease has also spurred other ongoing lawsuits filed by congressional Democrats, state attorneys general, nonprofit watchdogs and a hotelier that demand the president relinquish ownership of the hotel. In October, the Trump Organization said it was open to selling it but the bids would be subject to GSA review, and GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said such a lease sale would be a "very rare circumstance."

In June 2013, the GSA announced it had signed a 60-year lease with the Trump Organization to redevelop and manage the century-old Old Post Office building and annex on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Under the agreement, $200 million of private sector funds were invested to convert the building into a luxury mixed-use development, according to the GSA statement. At the time, then-GSA acting Administrator Dan Tangherlini said the deal would save taxpayers millions of dollars.

The agency leases approximately 600 federal properties to private individuals, but the majority of them are for parking spaces or antennas, according to Murphy. The president is the only elected official who has a lease with the GSA.

A representative for the Trump Organization didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

--Additional reporting by Khorri Atkinson. Editing by Stephen Berg.

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