Trump's family donated to politicians associated with his D.C. hotel before it opened

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/12/trump-family-donated-to-d-c-politicians-who-helped-pave-way-for-trump-hotel.html

The Trump Organization opened its latest property in Washington, D.C., on Monday, four years after they first secured the rights—after Donald Trump and his children all donated as much as they could to D.C.’s mayor and representative in Congress, who were instrumental in the hotel’s development.

In February of 2012, the federal government announced that Donald Trump’s organization had won a bid to turn the Old Post Office Pavilion, located on Pennsylvania Avenue just a few blocks from the White House, into a new luxury hotel, which had its soft opening this week. Ivanka Trump, the mogul’s daughter, was put in charge of the project.

“The Trump Organization is committed to making this the finest luxury hotel in the world and we think the building’s location and historic nature will allow us to do that,” the younger Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post just after the rights were announced.

Months later, money began to pour in from the Trump family to two politicians with prominent roles in the hotel development project: Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.

While the Trumps are notorious for doling out heaps of money to politicians on both sides of the aisle, D.C. politicians hadn’t been recipients in the past. And the timing of the contributions leads to “an appearance issue,” as one campaign finance lawyer described it—one enhanced by recent revelations about the Trump Foundation’s attempts to curry favor with politicians.