Sep 23, 2019
Trump Pressured the President of Panama
That other time Trump tried to pressure a world leader to intervene on his personal behalf
President Donald Trump is facing possible impeachment over a July phone call with Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy, in which he seems to be extorting campaign help from Zelenskyy, in exchange for $400 million dollars’ worth of aid in the form of anti-tank missiles — aid that Congress had already approved.
Unfortunately for Trump, he already has a documented history of urging world leaders to intervene on his own behalf.
Trump’s Panama nightmare
Panama has accused the Trump Organization of intentionally evading taxes on income for a 70-story hotel they managed in Panama City. Other accusations against the Trump company include falsified financial statements, fraudulent schemes, operational mismanagement, neglect, and hoarding cash that should have been paid out to the condo owners.
When a majority of units were sold in 2017 to Ithaca Capital Partners, the new company attempted to assess the building and operations, but principals of the company were subjected to physical abuse by Trump Tower security guards.
When the new owner sought to take control of the building, it found walls had been hastily built to obstruct access to certain areas — one was in the middle of a hallway, another in front of an elevator bank — including inner offices. Trump employees were also accused of shredding hotel documents.
Trump’s name was scraped off the building in 2018, and the Trump Organization was fired as the managing company.
Trump projects in Mexico, India, Azerbaijan and elsewhere have come under similar scrutiny.
Trump’s letter to the Panamanian government threatened repercussions
An arbitrator was appointed after the physical tussle between Trump Organization employees and Ithaca Capital’s representatives.
But while an arbitration decision was pending, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela received a letter from Trump Organization attorneys requesting that he use his influence to intervene in the judicial process and reverse the company’s humiliating eviction from the hotel. The letter was received on March 22, 2018, well into Trump’s tenure as US President.
According to the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the letter:
While never mentioning Trump or his role as president, the letter says lawyers representing the Trump Organization were aware of “the separation of powers” in Panama but essentially asks the country’s president to intervene in the judicial process anyway. It goes on to say that the eviction violates an investment treaty signed by the two countries and suggests that the Panamanian government, not the hotel’s new management team, could be blamed for any wrongdoing.
Between mentioning a treaty and insinuating that the US would hold the Panamanian government accountable, the message is clear: Give the US President back his hotel, and drop all investigations or you’ll all be sorry.
It didn’t work. President Varela did not respond to the letter, and the arbitrator found in favor of Ithaca Capital. Government charges on tax evasion and tax fraud are still pending.
Trump has repeatedly proven himself incapable of separating himself from his businesses — from dictating Don Jr’s misleading letter on Russian contacts, to allowing his unqualified daughter into a meeting with Japanese leaders to promote her brand, Daddy clearly has his fingers in every Trump pie.
It’s very doubtful that Trump’s Panamanian attorneys or his sons would have had the cojones to both cajole and threaten the President of Panama (in the same letter!) unless it were at the insistence of one Donald J. Trump.
