A new report sent to the State Department indicates that federal authorities in the United States have been unable to locate two gifts from other countries to thenPresident Donald Trump and the tycoon’s family. The information was released by the Washington Post on Friday the 17th.
The items include a lifesize painting of Trump donated by the President of El Salvador and golf clubs sent by the Japanese Prime Minister.
The 15page document is the result of a yearlong investigation by the US House of Representatives.
The two items make up a list of more than 100 foreign gifts, estimated at nearly $300,000, that Trump and his family allegedly failed to report to the State Department.
The list includes 16 gifts from Saudi Arabia valued at over $48,000; 17 gifts from India valued at over $17,000; and at least five gifts from China.
According to the Post, the report raises suspicions that the items may not have been declared with the intention of influencing US political positions towards those countries. According to the document, Trump reported no gifts in his last year in office.
Former chief of staff John F. Kelly told the newspaper that Trump had repeated on several occasions that gifts given to him during his tenure did not belong to the federal government.
The report goes on to note that it identified 13 “additional undeclared foreign gifts addressed to former President Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump with an estimated total value of more than $22,000.”
In one of the cited cases, Melania attempted to “return $470 worth of NARA diamond earrings offered by the Czech Republic, but wished to avoid public disclosure of the item,” investigators wrote.
In addition to the gifts given to the former president, the committee notes that Jared Kushner, Trump’s soninlaw, his wife and their children collectively received 33 undeclared gifts totaling nearly $82,000. Among the items are gifts from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, including a $24,000 dagger and scabbard gifted by Mohammed bin Salman, and two pairs of swords worth $8,800.