Barr has booked $30,000 holiday party at Trump’s DC hotel: WaPo

Attorney General William Barr has booked a 200-person holiday party at President Trump’s D.C. hotel that will cost an estimated $30,000, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The outlet obtained a copy of a contract signed by Barr for a “Family Holiday Party” in the hotel’s Presidential Ballroom on Dec. 8. 

{mosads}Barr is paying for the venue himself.

He chose the Trump Hotel only after other hotels, including the Willard and the Mayflower, were booked, a Department of Justice (DOJ) official told the Post.

Barr reportedly holds the party annually, although this is the first time it will be at a Trump hotel.

“Career ethics officials were consulted, and they determined that ethics rules did not prohibit him from hosting his annual party at the Trump hotel,” the DOJ official said.

Barr’s party at the hotel is the latest in a string of connections between the administration and Trump’s businesses.

Trump does not directly run the Trump Organization, which he put into a trust controlled by his adult sons when he entered office in 2017, but he still benefits financially from its holdings.

Earlier this week, Trump suggested the U.S. could host world leaders at his golf resort outside Miami for next year’s Group of Seven summit, which his critics argue would be a clear violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.

The DOJ and Trump Organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Barr’s holiday party from The Hill. The White House directed The Hill’s inquiry to the DOJ.