Former US President Donald Trump failed to properly declare nearly $300,000 worth of foreign gifts during his term from 2017 to 2021. That is what Democratic MPs of the US House of Representatives committee responsible for overseeing the government say in a preliminary report.
By law, the US president must declare gifts worth more than $415 (388 euros). Such gifts would then be considered the property of the United States government. In the case of more valuable personal gifts, the president does have the option of buying them off from the government and keeping them. In any case, the gifts must be registered.
But Trump has not done that, the report says. The ex-president and his family are said to have received gifts from countries such as China and Saudi Arabia, worth $ 291,000 (or about 275,000 euros).
Saudi dagger
Among the undeclared gifts is a Saudi dagger worth $24,000 (approximately $22,000). Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law who guided delegations in the Middle East under the ex-president as an assistant in the White House, would have bought that dagger.
The competent authorities do not know where other gifts have gone, the report said. Trump would also have received a life-size portrait of himself from his counterpart from El Salvador. In addition, there is no trace of golf sticks that the ex-president received from then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The sticks are worth several thousand dollars.
The parliamentary committee now wants to find out whether and what influence the undeclared gifts had on American foreign policy.
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