Why Trump does not want to get too involved with the GSA email controversy?

[kentuck]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/aramroston/how-donald-trump-won-control-of-a-prized-dc-landmark?utm_term=.sr9roXOW8#.rwn3klOqy

<snip>
Trump promised to employ the architect who had, over decades, championed the building’s careful, historic restoration. And he promised the involvement of a multibillion-dollar real estate investment firm with a rock-solid financial reputation.

After Trump’s team got the nod from the GSA, however, it reversed itself on both these promises.

It announced that the architect would no longer be involved. And it informed the government that it would no longer be working with the real estate investment firm. To finance the construction, Trump borrowed $170 million from a bank, putting the federal lease on the property up as collateral.

According to a former member of his team, “The Trump people said all the right things” in the early stages. “He never intended to stick with it. He thought, ‘Well, let’s get to the next phase and then we’ll do what we want to do.’”

Several sources said the GSA decided to proceed with the deal, despite all the changes, in part because it feared the political fallout.

[underpants]

1. They put the lease up as collateral

I know you could post a small bit of a long and very well done article. I was wondering who would lend money with collateral they probably couldn't recover. But hey it's Deutsch Bank - this was probably a nice little money laundering operation

[kentuck]

2. Yep.

It would be nice to know more about this deal. It looks very shady.

[underpants]

4. I guess the GSA/Fed procurement is different from states

Most states require a bid bond to cover the entire bid. I can't speak for the really massive projects like roads or new buildings but for most projects states protect themselves from defaults.

From the article.

In August 2013, 18 months after the GSA tapped Trump as its preferred developer, the parties finally agreed on a 60-year lease.

According to a redacted version released to the public, the lease required Trump to put down a security deposit of $4 million, not in cash but in a letter of credit. Trump himself was listed as the personal guarantor of the project, records indicate, signing a $40 million guaranty. (The GSA has redacted his name from the lease, but in separate records he is clearly listed as the guarantor.) The $40 million guaranty can be reduced based on how much equity Trump contributes to the project, the GSA said in a report on it to Congress.

[kentuck]

5. It would seem to me..

...that any such agreement must be negotiated in good faith. Otherwise, there could be a suit to make it null and void. Trump never intended to agree to the terms, it appears?

[underpants]

6. M. O.

He gets people "over the barrel"

It's too late now but I'm surprised the other developers didn't file suit. The GSA seems to have bent over backwards to give it to Trump.

[stonecutter357]

3. K&R

“When we have obtained emails in the course of our ongoing criminal investigation, we have secured either the account owner’s consent or appropriate criminal process.”