According to a report released on Friday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, former US president Donald Trump and his family failed to disclose more than 100 gifts totaling more than $250,000 that they received from foreign nations while he was in the White House. According to the report, 17 of the 117 gifts sent overall came from India and are said to have cost close to $50,000.
Among the gifts are a replica of the Taj Mahal worth $4,600, given to Modi by the late Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, and a pair of cufflinks worth $1,920, given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2021. According to reports, Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, gave a Makrana marble vase worth $8,500 as the most expensive purchase from India in 2021.
The Trump family had received 16 gifts from Saudi Arabia totaling more than $45,000, including a blade worth nearly $24,000. Additionally, a number of missing items have been reported.
A life-size portrait of Trump ordered by the president of El Salvador prior to the 2020 presidential election and golf clubs from Shinzo Abe, the country’s former prime minister, are not included. The golf clubs were presented by Abe in 2017 and 2018 during meetings to the Trump International Golf Club and Kasumigaseki Country Club, according to the report, and included a putter valued at $460 and a driver costing $3,040.
The Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act mandates that gifts worth more than a few hundred dollars given to the president, vice president, and their families by foreign officials be reported to the State Department. According to the preliminary findings of the report, Trump and his family have disclosed fewer gifts than previous presidents have.
In 2019 and 2021, respectively, PM Modi also gave President Trump and his daughter Ivanka a black marble table with mother-of-pearl and stone inlay work valued at $1,400 and a gold bracelet valued at $2,450.
Preliminary findings released today “suggest once more the Trump Administration’s brazen disregard for the rule of law and its systematic mishandling of large gifts from foreign governments, along with many lavish personalised gifts that vastly exceed the statutory limit in value but were never reported — some of which are still missing today,” the opposition lawmakers said in a statement.
They further stated that the council would look into whether Trump broke the law by not paying the market value for the unreported priceless gifts.