From Louis Vuitton golf bags to bed covers, foreign dignitaries shower Trumps with expensive gifts
WASHINGTON – It’s a très chic – not to mention expensive – gift for the golf lover who has everything.
French President Emmanuel Macron gifted President Donald Trump with a Louis Vuitton brown vinyl golf bag with beige lettering and photos of seven soldiers standing before the U.S. flag, the State Department disclosed in an annual report on Monday.
The golf bag and photos – total value $8,275 – are the most expensive of the 17 gifts Trump received from foreign leaders in 2018, his second year in office.
All told, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump received nearly three dozen gifts totaling $81,385, which were turned over to the National Archives or other government agencies.
The most expensive gift went to the first lady, who received six Nymphenburg design plates from the SheikTamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the amir of Qatar. The green plates, each bearing the crowned shield emblem, are valued at $23,500.
The president’s 17 gifts totaled $33,800 and included a $450 hickory wooden golf putter with engravings from the mayor of Davos, Switzerland; a $3,800 footed crystal bowl with the American and Irish flags from Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar; black leather boots valued at $545 from Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull; and gold-framed portrait – who else? -– Trump himself, valued at $3,100 from the prime minister of Vietnam.
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Other Trump gifts included a $2,950 miniature replica in silver of the Registan Ensemble from Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev; a $600 stone block recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; and two printed pages issued in 1783 by the Queen Mary of Portugal and two porcelain vases from Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The Portuguese gifts were valued at $2,270.
Melania Trump received 13 gifts totaling $47,585. They included a pair of chairs valued at $10,000 from the president of Egypt; a floral bed cover from the president of Uzbekistan valued at $4,200 and an oil painting, valued at $3,400, depicting three snow-covered mountain peaks from the president of Kazakhstan.
The first lady’s other gifts included a bronze statute valued at $1,300 and depicting a walking elephant with a tree from the first lady of Kenya; two bracelets in a box, valued at $1,500, from Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan; and an Italian-made beige silk, valued at $850, from Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French president.
Presidents and other federal officials are barred from receiving gifts from foreign governments under the Constitution unless approved by Congress – the same clause that has inspired lawsuits alleging Trump is accepting payments through his hotels.
But gifts of "minimal value" presented as a courtesy between heads of state are common. In those cases, a gift can be accepted on behalf of the United States. Like an awkward exchange on Christmas morning, the administration justifies accepting those gifts by declaring that "non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to (the) donor and U.S. Government."
Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence got their own share of gifts, including Panama-style hats from the president of Ecuador, paint brushes presented by the president of South Korea and a $5,730 desk clock from the crown prince of Bahrain.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Foreign dignitaries shower Trump White House with expensive gifts
