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The decision could have financial benefits for the president, whose own hotel is located one block away, critics say.
"New documents provided to the Oversight Committee indicate that President Trump met you personally, the FBI, and White House officials on January 24, 2018, where he was directly involved in the decision to abandon the plan. long-term relocation and go ahead with the more expensive proposal to build a new building on the same site, thus preventing Trump Hotel's competitors from acquiring the land, "says the letter from the Maryland representative Elijah Cummings, the largest Democrat on the Government's Monitoring and Reform Committee, and other senior Democrats.
Sarah Sanders, White House spokeswoman, said the "House Democrats were all wrong".
"The president wanted to save the government money and the FBI leaders did not want to move their headquarters," she told CNN in a statement.
A financial analysis conducted by the GSA's Inspector General, however, concluded that the construction of a new FBI building in downtown Washington "would actually be more expensive" than the office move.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the GSA said the e-mails quoted by the Democrats had been taken out of context.
"As GSA and the FBI have already indicated, the FBI management team has made the decision to keep its headquarters at the current location of Pennsylvania Avenue. e-mails referenced in today's congressional letter went out of context and refer to the project's funding approach, not the location decision, "said Pamela Dixon, spokeswoman for the project. # 39; agency. "Suggestions that these emails would indicate that the president's involvement in the locating decision are inaccurate." The GSA relies on his testimony and on the cost analysis proposed in the revised joint plan. submitted to Congress in February ".
The days following the White House meeting included efforts to make the decision to keep the FBI in Washington officially, specifically referring to Trump's wishes.
Just one day after the meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, GSA acting chief of staff, Brennan Hart, sent an email to Joseph Lai, special assistant to the president, to point out that the decision had been taken not to not transfer the seat of the FBI.
A few days later, GSA Acting General Counsel, Jack St. John, suggested the need to get "from the Department of Justice and the FBI something" written that consolidates what had agreed at the meeting with Trump.
Hart replied in an email: "Ideally, I think it would sum up first the oval meeting with what POTUS had asked everyone to do, then ask Emily [Murphy] execute the orders of POTUS ".
On January 28, Hart also sent an e-mail to the Legislative Affairs Bureau, in which he explained Trump's role: "GSA will maintain its position on the source of funding and it is a demolition / construction new according to the instructions of the president ".
Questions about Murphy's testimony
The documents obtained by House Democrats are an overview of the type of control that Democrats could intensify if they won a majority in the House in November.
Democrats "seriously" worry about the FBI's decision to "replace it with a more expensive plan to keep the current location, demolish the existing building and build a new facility on the same site" , says the letter.
They also raised questions about why the GSA chief was no longer present with Congress about the role of the White House. In April, Murphy did not reveal that she had met with the president about the project when the representative of Illinois Democrat, Mike Quigley, asked him, during a hearing before Congress, whether the President or someone from the White House was participating in discussions about the future. of the FBI building.
Democrats accuse Murphy in his letter of concealing valuable information in Congress.
"Your interviews with the White House have only been revealed after direct evidence has appeared, including a photo of your meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office, along with other officials from Justice, White House and FBI officials, "the Democrats wrote in their letter. Thursday.
Democrats on the committee argue that Trump had a clear interest in FBI ownership being developed before becoming president, but after becoming president he was no longer allowed to invest in the project. and compete with Trump Hotel.
"Many years before becoming president, Donald Trump expressed interest in transferring the FBI headquarters to Washington, to allow him to acquire the land located on Pennsylvania Avenue and redevelop the property, which is just right. in front of the hotel Trump International Hotel he was sworn in as president – and became ineligible as a federal employee to get the property – he would have become "opposed to death" from the government , which would have allowed commercial developers to compete directly with the Trump Hotel, "Cummings and his colleagues wrote.
Greg Wallace of CNN contributed to this report.
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