Menendez questions Trump, his business about letter to Panama president in hotel row
Source: The Washington Post
By David A. Fahrenthold May 11 at 6:00 AM
One month after lawyers for President Trump’s company asked the president of Panama to intervene in a legal fight over the Trump hotel there, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has asked both Trump and his business to explain why it happened.
In letters dated Thursday, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) asked Trump if he was aware of the letter to the Panamanian leader before it was revealed by the Associated Press on April 10. He also asked if Trump had talked to President Juan Carlos Varela or his staff since then, to assure him that the letter did not reflect U.S. government policy.
“Will you commit to President Varela . . . that there will be no repercussions from the U.S. government if he chooses to ignore your firm’s requests?” Menendez asked. Menendez’s office provided a copy of the letter to The Washington Post — along with copies of other letters sent to the Department of Commerce, the Trump Organization and the U.S. Embassy in Panama.
The Trump Organization’s lawyers wrote to Varela on March 22, in the middle of a sometimes-bizarre battle over the Trump International Hotel in Panama City.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/menendez-questions-trump-his-business-about-letter-to-panama-president-in-hotel-row/2018/05/10/1e006760-54b8-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html
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