President Trump’s attacks against Hunter Biden have been called into question because of his partial ownership of a New York City skyscraper that was refinanced with the help of the Bank of China, according to a new report.
In 2012, Trump’s business partner refinanced the 43-story Avenue of the Americas skyscraper in Manhattan for $1 billion, including a $211 million loan with the Bank of China set to be repaid by 2022, Politico reported on Friday. Trump owns 30% stake of the building.
After initially reporting that Trump stills owes the Bank of China, Politico updated its report on Saturday with feedback from the state-owned bank, which stated that it sold its debt on the property weeks after the 2012 loan.
“On November 7, 2012 several financial institutions including the Bank of China participated in a commercial mortgage loan of $950 million to Vornado Realty Trust. Within 22 days, the loan was securitized and sold into the CMBS market, as is a common practice in the industry. Bank of China has not had any ownership interest in that loan since late November 2012,” a spokesperson for Bank of China USA told the Washington Examiner in response to the report.
Trump has criticized the son of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for securing a loan from the Bank of China while his father was vice president. The loan between Hunter Biden and the state-owned bank was finalized just days after he returned from a taxpayer-funded flight to China with his father. Trump’s campaign has used this arrangement in attack ads against the elder Biden.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, claimed Trump was “highly conflicted with respect to China,” adding, “We actually explored all these foreign enterprises and how once he became president, he’d be seen differently by foreign leaders who would have leverage over this president because he had investments in their countries and/or financial dealings with business enterprises and financial institutions and investors in their countries.”
Robert Maguire, the research director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, agreed, saying, “While Trump is talking about [Hunter Biden’s] financial dealings, in Trump’s case, it is the president himself who has a company he still owns and profits from that has financial relationships with the countries that he is supposed to be negotiating with on behalf of the American people.”
“There are definitely legitimate questions that are raised by Hunter Biden’s actions. They are not even in the same ballpark as the conflict of interest questions raised by President Trump’s continued relationship with his own company,” Maguire added.
Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman, disagreed with Maguire. He argued there is a significant difference between Trump securing a loan as a private businessman four years before running to become president and Biden securing a loan while his father was leading diplomatic efforts in China.
“There is an obvious difference between Donald Trump working as a successful businessman as a private citizen and Hunter Biden using his name to cash in with a $1.5 billion investment from a state-controlled Chinese bank while his father was vice president,” he said.
