Donald Trump: what gifts former US president failed to report - from $24,000 dagger to life-sized portrait

Donald Trump’s White House has failed to report more than 100 gifts from foreign nations worth more than a quarter of a million dollars, according to a US government report.

Among the unreported items are 16 gifts from Saudi Arabia worth more than $45,000 (£37,000) in all, including a dagger which has been valued at up to $24,000 (£19,000). There are also 17 gifts from India, such as expensive cufflinks, a vase, and a $4,600 (£3,700) model of the Taj Mahal.

Meanwhile, several of the gifts given - including a lifesize painting of Trump from the president of El Salvador and golf clubs from the prime minister of Japan – are still unaccounted for. According to the US’s Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, all gifts above $480 that foreign officials give to the President, Vice-President, and their families must be reported to the state department.

The revelations about the former President came as part of a 15-page report from Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Releasing the findings on Friday (17 March) following a year-long investigation, the report found that the number of gifts reported by Trump and his family were lower than the number disclosed by his predecessors.

It states that while the White House did report some gifts to the state department between 2017 and 2019, it failed to report more than 100 foreign gifts. These had a total value of more than $250,000 (£200,000).

Top Democrat on the committee congressman Jamie Raskin said the findings indicate the administration’s “brazen disregard for the rule of law and its systematic mishandling of large gifts”. He also said the committee would “remain committed to following the facts to determine the extent to which former President Trump broke the law or violated the constitution when he failed to report gifts - and took possession of valuable items without paying the fair market price for them.”

Speaking on the gifts that remain unaccounted for, the report revealed that federal officials have been unable to locate the life-size painting of Trump, which was commissioned by president of El Salvador Nayib Bukele. Internal White House correspondence suggests it was delivered to the US Embassy in El Salvador as a gift for Trump just prior to the 2020 US election - and that the ambassador alerted US officials to the present at the time to request help in shipping it.

“There are no records of the painting’s disposition”, the report says, neither by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) or the General Services Administration (GSA). Records suggest the painting may have been moved to Florida in July 2021 as property of Trump’s.

Thousands of dollars in golf clubs given to Trump in 2017 and 2018 by the late Shinzo Abe, who was then the Prime Minister of Japan, are also still unaccounted for. These included a putter valued at 460 dollars and a driver valued at 3,040 dollars - given to the former President during his visits to the Trump International Golf Club and Kasumigaseki Country Club.

The newly-released report states that NARA has no records of the clubs - and GSA has no records of the clubs being purchased.

A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Associated Press, but Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the former President, issued a statement to the Washington Post claiming that “many items were received either before or after the administration.”