Trump In Final Talks To Sell DC Hotel In Old Post Office: Report

WASHINGTON, DC — Former President Donald Trump's company is in final discussions to sell the rights to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., according to The Wall Street Journal.

Miami-based investment firm CGI Merchant Group is in talks to buy the lease to the hotel. CGI is also in discussions with major hotel groups such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. to remove Trump's name from the hotel, the newspaper reported.

The Trump Organization won the rights to develop the hotel, located in D.C.'s Old Post Office building, in 2012, and lease the building from the federal government. The hotel was the site of regular anti-Trump protests during his presidency.

When he won the presidential election in 2016, ethics experts urged Trump to sell the hotel. He refused to sell the hotel, which led to foreign government and other interest groups booking rooms and events at the hotel with the hope of gaining favor with the president.

SEE ALSO: Trump Organization Puts DC Hotel Lease On The Market: Report

After winning the lease to the Old Post Office, Trump agreed to pay a reported base rent of $250,000 a month. He then spent hundreds of millions of dollars to renovate the building into a hotel.

According to Bloomberg, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform recently released documents that showed the hotel received about $3.75 million in payments from foreign governments. But the hotel still lost more than $70 million during Trump's four years in the White House.

Trump wanted to sell the hotel earlier, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic drastically reduced the amount of money his company would have received in such a sale.

Read more about the sales talks in The Wall Street Journal.