(Photo by Gabriella Demczuk/Getty Images)

A new letter from the General Services Administration says that President Donald Trump is in the clear when it comes to the hotel with his name mere blocks from the White House.

The Trump International Hotel, which Trump opened while on the campaign trail in the fall, is housed in the historic Old Post Office Pavilion, a building owned by the GSA. Trump negotiated the 60-year lease in 2013.

The lease states that “No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease, or to any benefit that may arise therefrom.” House Democrats argued that nothing short of full divestment would satisfy that clause, and claimed in a letter back in December that the GSA agreed.

Additionally, they raised concerned that “President Trump will profit from large increases in hotel revenues because he was elected President highlights the grave concerns we have raised for months about his conflicts of interest and potential violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.”

The GSA responded by saying that they couldn’t know for sure whether Trump was violating the lease until he took office, though Dems maintained that the agency told staffers that the lease provision prohibited elected officials from having an ownership interest in the lease.

Now, those Democrats are saying that the GSA changed its mind once Trump assumed power. “This decision allows profits to be reinvested back into the hotel so Donald Trump can reap the financial benefits when he leaves the White House. This is exactly what the lease provision was supposed to prevent,” said Congressmen Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) in a statement.

While Trump’s son, Donald J. Trump Jr., has officially taken over as the head of Trump Old Post Office LLC, the president has not renounced his ownership stake in the company.

But this is enough to satisfy GSA contracting officer Kevin Terry, who wrote that previous reviews of whether Trump was in violation of the lease “reached simplistic ‘black and white’ conclusions regarding the meaning and implications of the clause” in question.

The International Trump Hotel lost more than $1 million during its opening months, with revenues $2 million less than estimates it provided to the GSA that were published by House Democrats.

While it has been booked solid with events since Trump’s election, critics say that is the problem. “There’s a feeling that [the Old Post Office Hotel is] attracting a lot of business because of who they are and their proximity to the president and to elected officials, and even cabinet members who are staying there, and that causes concern,” Diane Gross, co-owner of Cork Wine Bar, told DCist.

Cork Wine Bar is suing the president and Trump Old Post Office LLC alleging unfair competition under D.C. law.

One diplomat told The Washington Post, “Why wouldn’t I stay at his hotel blocks from the White House, so I can tell the new president, ‘I love your new hotel!’ Isn’t it rude to come to his city and say, ‘I am staying at your competitor?’”

Contracting Officer Letter March 23 2017 Redacted Version by Rachel Kurzius on Scribd