Washington D. C. [USA], May 17 : An artist greeted visitors to the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. on Monday night with a projected message "Pay Trump bribes here." Artist and filmmaker Robin Bell said that he projected the message onto the hotel's facade from a van across the street, in a bid to call attention to accusations that President Donald Trump is allowing foreign leaders to pay for access by staying at a Trump property just a few blocks from the White House, reports the CNN.
"It's a pretty clear cut example of impropriety. This is not like politics as usual. The rules and the lines are being pushed so far and this seemed to be so clear to me," he said. Bell also projected the text of the emoluments clause, which prohibits US officials from accepting foreign gifts, onto the hotel's facade, alongside images of the Turkish and Russian flags.
This is the fifth time Bell has projected messages onto the Trump International Hotel, he said. Recently, he projected a "100 days of pollution" message onto a building's wall in Pennsylvania where Trump marked his 100th day in office with a speech.
The Trump Organization rents the space for the Trump International Hotel from the General Services Administration (GSA) which is overseen by the President.
The hotel has raised concerns for government ethics experts because guests, including foreign government officials, can try to ingratiate themselves with Trump and the US government by spending their money there.
In January, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a government watchdog group, filed a lawsuit claiming Trump violates the clause because he is accepting payments from foreign governments through his business empire.
But the federal government ruled in March that the hotel is not violating its lease, despite a clause that says no government official can be a party to it.
Before Trump became President, he transferred control of his business holdings to his sons..
Source: ANI
