--- description: Donald Trump's team said he would donate all money spent by foreign governments on bills at his hotels to the U.S. Treasury. title: Donald Trump to Donate Money Foreign Governments Spend at His Hotels to U.S. Treasury image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5ceb29135a2d0b/6988b5262dce0170ce9ebe2b/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Donald Trump](/tag/donald-trump/) ## Donald Trump Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Donald Trump to Donate Money Foreign Governments Spend at His Hotels to U.S. Treasury by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2017 5:28 PM CUT  President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference, on Jan. 11, 2017, in New York City. President-elect Trump speaks during a news conference, on Jan. 11, 2017, in New York City.Evan Vucci—AP by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 11, 2017 5:28 PM CUT [Donald Trump’s](http://time.com/4631556/donald-trump-russia-fake-news-crap-sick-people/ "undefined") team addressed concerns about his [potential conflicts of interest](http://time.com/4578431/donald-trump-conflicts-of-interest-list/ "undefined") on Wednesday by saying he would donate all money spent by foreign governments on bills at his hotels to the U.S. Treasury. Sheri Dillon, an attorney with Morgan Lewis who has worked with the Trump team to structure his new [business arrangements](http://time.com/4631180/donald-trump-press-conference-russia/ "undefined"), said that the [Emoluments Clause in the U.S. Constitution ](http://time.com/4579979/emoluments-clause-constitution-donald-trump/ "undefined")did not apply to hotel bills, but he would take steps anyway to avoid profiting from any foreign officials choosing to book rooms in his hotels. “He is going to voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotels to the U.S. Treasury,” she said. “This way it is the American people who profit.” The [Emoluments Clause ](http://time.com/4579979/emoluments-clause-constitution-donald-trump/ "undefined")specifies that “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” Dillon said that the Constitution does not require Trump to take this action, but that he wants to “do more than what the Constitution requires.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4631595/donald-trump-hotels-treasury-foreign-government/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4631595/donald-trump-hotels-treasury-foreign-government/"},"headline":"Donald Trump to Donate Money Foreign Governments Spend at His Hotels to U.S. Treasury","datePublished":"2017-01-11T17:28:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:40:14.896Z","description":"\"This way it is the American people who profit\"","url":"https://time.com/4631595/donald-trump-hotels-treasury-foreign-government/","keywords":["Donald Trump","2016 Election topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5ceb29135a2d0b/6988b5262dce0170ce9ebe2b/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbb5ceb29135a2d0b/6988b5262dce0170ce9ebe2b/trump-donald.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump","caption":"Donald Trump","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4631595/donald-trump-hotels-treasury-foreign-government/","name":"Donald Trump to Donate Money Foreign Governments Spend at His Hotels to U.S. Treasury"}}]}] ```