Republicans mock companies that put money in Trump's pocket

House antitrust group Republicans laughed at Democrats' questions about T-Mobile spending at Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC immediately after the company announced a mega-merger with Sprint.

"I'm a little embarrassed," said Representative James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) When asked by the Democrats about T-Mobile's chief executive officer, John Legere, about the company's payouts. President Donald Trump will benefit directly.

"The place where the employees of Mr. Legere and T-Mobile remain when they travel to Washington does not really have any relationship with the point of whether the proposed merger is in the public interest. or not, "added Sensenbrenner.

Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) Had bursts of laughter from fellow Republicans after complaining that Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) Had only spent 50 seconds of his time asking questions about the merger background "because we have to enter what kind of hotel towels you like.

A day after the announcement of the merger, nine T-Mobile executives registered at the Trump D.C. hotel, the Washington Post reported in January. The company eventually spent $ 195,000 on 38 nights spent at the hotel, as T-Mobile executives traveled to Washington to meet with the regulators about the proposed merger.

Previously, the company's executives had spent only two nights at the President's Hotel. Legere had already stated in 2015 that he would not stay at a Trump hotel after disapproving the service.

Trump is the first president of the modern era to refuse to part with his assets when he is in office. As the owner of several commercial properties, this has created a situation in which businesses, lobbyists and foreign governments can directly pay the president while they seek his support for various policies.

The Trump Hotel in Washington, which opened in 2016, is one of key hotspots for this type of influence take place. Visitors in search of Trump administration action post pictures regularly on social media showing how happy they are to spend money with the President – Legere and T-Mobile executives.

Legere told a congressional committee that the $ 195,000 that his company had spent at the hotel was based on his ten-year preference for Trump hotels.

"I made the decision. I am a longtime customer of the Trump Hotel prior to this transaction, "Legere said in response to questions from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.).

He added that he was "100% sure that this agreement will be judged by the [Department of Justice] and [Federal Communications Commission] on its merits. "

The proposed merger is currently under review by the GM and the FCC. They are supposedly independent agencies, free of all influence of the White House. Trump, however, reportedly ordered Gary Cohn, the former president of the National Economic Council, and John Kelly, his former chief of staff, to ask DOJ antitrust lawyers to take legal action to block the merger between AT & T and Time Warner in 2017, according to the New Yorker. The Ministry of Justice sued and lost in court. Democrats asked for documents to determine if there was undue influence.

Trump won the 2016 elections in part by claiming that his opponent Hillary Clinton provided favors to the Clinton Foundation's donors as secretary of state. Republicans of Congress Hearings held in December 2018 Clinton interfered with the US Committee on Foreign Investment and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decisions to allow a Russian company to buy a company that owned uranium mines in the United States and previously owned a important donor of the Clinton Foundation. No evidence of improper influence or wrongdoing has ever been discovered.