President Trump’s latest annual financial disclosure form released on Wednesday revealed something that was not disclosed on Trump’s previous financial disclosure form: the President’s reimbursement of his then-attorney Michael Cohen.
Trump’s financial disclosure, released by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), did not list the specific reason for the payment, but Cohen has said he paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about her accusations she had a sexual encounter with Trump.
“In the interest of transparency, while not required to be disclosed as “reportable liabilities” on Part 8, in 2016 expenses were incurred by one of Donald J. Trump’s attorneys, Michael Cohen. Mr Cohen sought reimbursement of those expenses and Mr. Trump fully reimbursed Mr. Cohen in 2017. The category of the value would be $100,001 – $250,000 and the interest rate would be zero.”
As The Hill notes, the OGE suggested the payment should have been included on the disclosure form Trump filed last year, which showed his assets and liabilities from the previous 16 months.
“OGE has concluded that the information related to the payment made by Mr. Cohen is required to be reported and that the information provided meets the disclosure requirement for a reportable liability.”
This means that while the Ethics office deemed that the payment to Cohen, made in 2016, should have been reported last year, Trump’s representatives disagreed, writing on the form they were not required to disclose the payment but were doing so “in the interest of transparency.”
The form was filed late on Tuesday, just ahead of the deadline to submit it. OGE reviewed the document and made it public Wednesday afternoon.
The issue of the reimbursement reemerged after Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s newest personal attorney, revealed the payment in a shock interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this month. Trump seemed to confirm the claim on Twitter the following morning. But then Trump said Giuliani was new to the team and would “get his facts straight.” Weeks earlier, Mr. Trump had said he was unaware Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 shortly before the election.
The disclosure form details Mr. Trump’s financial interests, and is 92 pages long, due to Mr. Trump’s vast business empire. The White House said on Tuesday afternoon that the president had submitted his form to OGE.
In addition to the Cohen payment, the disclosed that Trump’s golf clubs also had substantial revenue, with CBS reporting that his golf club in Jupiter, Florida had $14 million in revenue. Bedminster brought in $15 million and Mar-a-Lago, $25 million (down from $37 million the prior year.) Turnberry, $20 million, among others. His Doral club, as was the case last year, dwarfed the rest of his golf properties, with revenues of almost $75 million.
The Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., which opened during his presidential campaign in 2016, saw $40 million in revenues.
He is also still picking up a Screen Actors Guild pension of nearly $65,000 from his years as a reality TV host.
First Lady Melania Trump made money, too — she earned royalties from Getty Images between $100,000 and $1 million for its use of photos of her.
Trump listed liabilities of at least $250 million, with Deutsche Bank as his biggest creditor. Trump also owes Ladder Capital at least $110 million.
Full filing below (pdf link)
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