Last month, U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr booked President Trump’s D.C. hotel for his annual holiday party—and it’s estimated to deliver Trump’s business more than $30,000 in revenue, according to a new report by The Washington Post. About200 people are expected to attend Barr’s “Family Holiday Party” in the hotel’s presidential ballroom on Dec. 8, which will feature a buffet and four-hour open bar, for which Barr has already signed a contract. A Department of Justice official said that the event was not meant to curry favor with the president, and Barr is paying for the party himself. The official added that Barr chose Trump’s hotel after finding that other hotels, including the Willard and the Mayflower, were already booked. Walter Shaub, a former director of the Office of Government Ethics, said Barr’s move is “one of those things that doesn’t violate the rules, but it’s really troubling.” “He keeps sending signals that his loyalty is to a politician and not to the country,” Shaub added. “And it’s part of an ongoing erosion of credibility at the Department of Justice.”
