Reacting to a report from the Associated Press that one of the investors in a group that is "bailing" Donald Trump out of his money-losing International Hotel in Washington, D.C. is an athlete the former president used to regularly disparage, one of the former president's biographers ridiculed him for choosing money over principle.
The AP is reporting that former New York Yankee and Texas Ranger Alex Rodriguez -- popularly known as A-Rod -- is part of the consortium buying the troubled hotel that was briefly a hub for the former president's admirers before he lost re-election.
According to a report from Forbes, Trump International has "been struggling to make money for years. Operating profits (measured as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for the 12 months ending Aug. 31, 2017, appeared to be negative $4.3 million, according to an analysis of the financial documents released by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The next year, things improved, but the Trumps still only squeezed out $900,000 of operating profits on $52.3 million in revenue, and they lost money after paying interest on their debt," before adding, "In the year that ended Aug. 31, 2020, the hotel produced an operating loss of $8.6 million. There are a lot of ways to lose money every year that don't require investing $370 million upfront."
Monday's AP report notes that A-Rod is a general partner in Miami-based CGI Merchant Group, which is paying for the rights "to lease the 263-room property near the White House."
According to AP, "A-Rod’s involvement in the $375 million deal, which could close within weeks, would make the athlete-turned-entrepreneur an unlikely financial savior for Trump, allowing him to recoup millions he invested and perhaps even emerge with a profit from his money-losing hotel."
Asked about the deal, Trump biographer Michael D’Antonio began by telling AP, "This is just more proof that the only thing that matters to Trump is money."
Needling Trump further, the author continued, "If A-Rod can bail out Trump and get him out of a sticky situation and help him turn a profit, he’s going to take that deal. He’d take it from Hillary Clinton.”
The report adds, Trump "tweeted about A-Rod dozens of times, mostly in a span from 2011 to 2013 prior to Major League Baseball suspending Rodriguez for the entire 2014 season for use and possession of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, and attempting to obstruct MLB’s investigation."
“The @Yankees should immediately stop paying A-Rod — he signed his contract without telling them he was a druggie,” Trump tweeted on Opening Day 2013, later writing, "Druggie A-Rod has disgraced the blessed @Yankees organization, lied to the fans & embarrassed NYC. He does not deserve to wear the pinstripes."
The report adds that Trump's feud with Rodriguez cooled off later, but that the former perennial All-Star appeared with his then-fiancee Jennifer Lopez "in an online campaign ad for Joe Biden just weeks before the 2020 presidential election, urging Hispanic voters to turn out for the Democrat."
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