In response to reporting on new Trump Organization plans to build a three-star hotel chain, DNC Deputy Communications Director Adrienne Watson released the following statement:

“The 2016 electoral map that Trump is quite fond of showing off functions not only as a personal ego-booster, but also appears to double as a blueprint for future Trump Organization businesses.  It’s hard to imagine the Trump Organization, a business known best for gold-plating and the ‘Trump’ name, wanting to open budget friendly hotels before Trump ran for president.  While on the campaign trail, the Trumps should have been learning how to best serve the average American, but these new hotel plans show that the Trumps only learned how to turn his voters into another payday. Trump owes it to the American people to disclose just how much money he is making off licensing agreements for these new hotels.”

New York Times: “On the campaign trail, President Trump’s children rolled through dozens of small towns across the country, reveling in the adoration of the crowds. … That led to a business idea. On Monday, the Trump Organization announced plans for a new three-star hotel chain with a patriotic flair, echoing President Trump’s campaign slogan about putting America first and reflecting the organization’s promise to enter into new deals only in the United States.”

Associated Press: “‘They’re cashing in on the red states,’ said Kathleen Clark, a government ethics expert and law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. ‘I’m not surprised that the Trump family would look to opportunities to commercially exploit his political success.’ Government ethics experts worry that developers seeking to curry favor with the president will be eager to help him in his new chains. They say their investments could work just like a campaign contributions, but without any limits on spending and disclosure requirements.”

Huffington Post: “‘It has nothing to do with politics,’ Donald Trump Jr. said in an interview with ABC News.  … But in conflict with Donald Jr.’s statement is the fact that the idea for the new chain reportedly came about on the campaign trail, when Donald Trump’s kids stumped for their father in small towns with less-than-ideal hotel accommodations.”

Forbes: “Unlike the higher-priced Scion option, which the Trump Organization will run, American Idea hotels will be managed by partners such as the Chawlas. … The Chawla brothers declined to disclose the details of their financial arrangement with the Trump Organization. Mitch Garrett, a vice president of Acquisition & Development at Trump Hotels who helped broker the deal, did not respond to a request for comment.”