CREW files referral for Trump Organization to be suspended from federal contracts
Washington —The Trump Organization should be suspended from all federal contracts and programs, according to a referral sent today by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Project on Government Oversight and government contracts expert Professor Steven L. Schooner. Failing to suspend the Trump Organization and all of its entities and top officers such as Donald Trump, Allen Weisselberg, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump from its government contracts would open the government up to further abuses and set a dangerous precedent.
It is standard practice for the government to suspend contractors under indictment, which the Trump Organization currently is. Under federal law and regulations, the government may only award contracts to “responsible” contractors that have “a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics.” Integrity and business ethics are sorely lacking from the Trump Organization.
“Over the past decade, the Trump Organization has entered into a variety of contracts and business arrangements with federal agencies. Donald Trump used the presidency to enrich himself by promoting his businesses as extensions of his administration and enabled the Trump Organization to avoid accountability for its conduct,” said CREW President Noah Bookbinder. “The Trump Organization has behaved so egregiously in so many contexts that suspending the Trump Organization entities and senior officers from federal business is clearly necessary to protect the government from their abuses.”
In July, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office indicted two key Trump Organization entities and its Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg on several counts of criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. The Trump Organization also recently paid two multi-million-dollar settlements with the State of New York in cases involving claims of fraud and other serious wrongdoing.
Last week, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform reported that Donald Trump concealed hundreds of millions of dollars in debts from the General Services Administration when bidding on the Old Post Office Building lease, and provided misleading information about the financial situation of the Trump International Hotel Washington in his annual financial disclosures.
“Each of these instances makes clear that the Trump Organization lacks business integrity and fails to meet the government’s requirements for suitable contractors,” Bookbinder said. “These indictments and settlements and the Organization’s documented history of misconduct leave the federal government no choice but to immediately suspend the Trump Organization from present and future government contracts.”