In what seemed like a stroke of genius–or incredible luck–Donald Trump sold his money-losing D.C. hotel in 2022 and ended up with a handsome $127 million payday. But what few knew is that in order for that deal to happen, Trump had to step in with a loan. So when the lease’s new owner got into trouble financially, he took a hit too.

Trump’s ties to the former D.C. post office dates back to 2012. That’s when Trump won a competitive bidding process to restore D.C.’s historic-but-dilapidated Old Post Office into a 263-room luxury hotel. The U.S. government would continue to own the property, which sits on Pennsylvania Avenue just a few blocks from the White House. But Trump spent $200 million restoring the 1899 Romanesque Revival building, as well as committing to make monthly rent payments of at least $250,000 for 60 years.

In winning the contract, Trump bested a consortium that included Hilton Worldwide and planned to develop the building as a Waldorf Astoria hotel. That group protested Trump’s victory to the General Services Agency, which oversaw the bidding process. Along with submitting dozens of pages of newspaper clippings highlighting Trump’s history of defaulting on loans, failing to complete projects and bankrupting hotels, Hilton and its partners claimed that the finances behind Trump’s bid just didn’t make sense. “[The] minimum base lease proposed by Trump would require Trump to obtain hotel room revenues which are simply not obtainable in this location based on the concepts for the redevelopment,” the protest stated. “GSA, instead, improperly scored the Trump proposal and hastily elected to choose the highest ground rent absent a sound economic and business foundation.” GSA rejected the protest on procedural grounds, with its contracting officer writing that Trump’s........

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