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Trump failed to disclose $47,000 gifts from India: House report
The findings are a part of a broader investigation which allege that Trump and his family failed to disclose over 100 foreign gifts worth $291,000 from several countries including Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Austria, Bangladesh, among others
Washington: As US President, Donald Trump failed to disclose 17 gifts, worth over $47,000, that he and his family received from India to the State Department, according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
These gifts were given by the then President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, Uttar Pradesh chief minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath, the then Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao and the embassy of India in Philippines and were received between 2018 and 2021. Besides Trump, India gave gifts to First Lady Melania Trump, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Most gifts correspond to Ivanka Trump’s visit to Hyderabad in 2017 and Trump’s state visit to India in 2020.
The findings are a part of a broader investigation which allege that Trump and his family failed to disclose over 100 foreign gifts worth $291,000 from several countries including Saudi Arabia, China, Japan, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Austria, Bangladesh, among others. Titled “Saudi Swords, Indian Jewellery, and a Larger-than-Life Salvadoran Portrait of Donald Trump: The Trump Administration’s Failure to Disclose Major Foreign Gifts”, the interim staff report was released on Friday.
The report says, “Failing to report and disclose gifts pursuant to these rules violates the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act and may also violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits the President from obtaining benefits from foreign entities while in office. In addition, under the Ethics in Government Act, the President is required to publicly disclose gifts over the minimal value that they and their immediate family received.” The committee has also flagged the possibility of foreign leaders using gifts to win favours from Trump.
In a section on India, the report says that Modi gifted Trump a “table, black marble with mother-of-pearl and stone inlay” worth $1,400 and “cufflinks, by (designer Raghavendra) Rathore, in presentation box” worth $1,920. Modi also gifted a “Charm bracelet, by Raghavendra Rathore, in presentation box” worth $2,750 to Melania Trump; a “Bandhgala jacket, by Raghavendra Rathore, in presentation box” worth $950 to Kushner; and a “Painting on silk, reportedly by the Pichwai Painting Deccan School of India, in frame and presentation box” worth $2,200 and a “bracelet by Raghvendra Rathore” worth $2,450 to Ivanka Trump.
President Kovind gifted Trump an “Indian rug, silk” worth $6,600 and a model of the Taj Mahal in marble worth $4,630. While Adityanath gifted a “vase, makrana marble” worth $8,500 to Trump, Rupani gave the US President two sets of footed bowls, a lion statue, a scarf, and a candelabrum — worth a total of $7,610. Jaishankar gifted a photo album of the state visit of Trump and the First Lady worth $1,250.
In 2018, the embassy of India in Philippines gifted Ivanka Trump a “rug, silk and wool, in carrying bag” worth $4,600 while KCR gave her a “sculpture of the Charminar, in silver filigree, in presentation case” worth $2,200.
To be sure, an exchange of gifts is a regular part of diplomatic exchanges and ways to promote local products. India has made a conscious effort to promote make in India products as gifts to foreign guests. Each country also has its own set of rules regarding the disclosure of gifts, with gifts received by Indian dignitaries sent to Toshakhana. The PMO has been auctioning gifts received by PM Modi, with the proceeds going to the mission to clean the Ganga.
In Pakistan, former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sale of some of the gifts he received when in office, after buying them from the gift repository at a discount, has set off a legal battle that was at the heart of the ongoing standoff between police and his supporters last week.
Many of Trump’s gifts referred to in the Congressional report are now with the National Archives, but the law requires the President and other federal officials to publicly disclose all gifts worth more than $415. This is the provision Trump’s White House is alleged to have violated.
