Energy execs spend big at Trump hotel 'Disneyland'

Dylan Brown and Hannah Northey, E&E News reporters Energywire: Wednesday, February 20, 2019

The Trump International Hotel rolled out the red carpet last summer for the two coal companies that have done the most to curry favor with the owner of the Washington, D.C., luxury destination: President Trump.

Murray Energy Corp. CEO Bob Murray and Heath Lovell, a top spokesman for magnate Joe Craft's Alliance Resource Partners LP, were "VIP Arrivals" for one-night stays on June 20, 2018, according to a list obtained by The Washington Post.

Under their names, hotel staff wrote the pair paid a "High Rate" — putting them on a lengthy list of hotel guests since Trump took office who are actively lobbying the White House on energy.

The money spent at Trump International seeps into the pockets of a self-proclaimed "energy dominance" president.

Trump refuses to sever business ties with the Trump Organization, which began leasing the Old Post Office building from the federal government three years before the president clinched the White House. The hotel is now at the center of lawsuits in New York, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Prosecutors argue Trump is illegally profiting off his presidency, seeking a declaration he's violating the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clause.

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Oil, coal, natural gas and mining interests have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at hotel events frequented by top administration officials, according to documents E&E News and the Sierra Club obtained under FOIA. Federal workers regularly stop by what one Department of Energy staffer called "Republican Disneyland."

No group spent more at Trump International during last year's midterm elections than America First Action Inc. — and few industries gave the pro-Trump super political action committee more money than the energy industry.

America First Action spent at least $395,068 on rooms, food at steakhouse BLT Prime and lodging at the hotel, according to Federal Election Commission reports. The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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