Trump Organization making a second attempt to sell its Washington, DC hotel lease, The Washington Post reports

• The Trump Org. is trying to sell its DC hotel lease for a second time, according to The Washington Post.
• The company first tried to unload the property in fall 2019 but took it off the market when COVID-19 hit.
• The move comes as a New York investigation into Trump and his business heats up.

As investigations against the former president heat up, former President Donald Trump is taking another stab at selling the lease to his company's Washington, DC hotel, The Washington Post reported.

For a second time, the Trump Organization has hired a broker to sell the Pennsylvania Avenue hotel, after the pandemic hindered the first effort in fall 2019. The company took the property off the market after COVID-19 hit.

The Trump Organization has hired real estate advisory firm Newmark Group to market the property, which the company leases from the General Services Administration, according to The Post.

The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Newmark Group declined to comment.

When the company first tried to unload the lease, rooms were running almost half empty, The Post reported, and the property's revenue last year fell by more than 60%. The hotel continued to face financial setbacks, including the pandemic's impact on the luxury hospitality industry and ongoing damage to the former president's brand following the 2020 election and January 6 insurrection.

The move comes one week after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced he was convening a grand jury as his office investigates whether the Trump Organization violated state law. The inquiry into Trump and his company's finances is wide-ranging and has been underway for more than two years.

It's not clear whether the DC hotel will play a role in Vance's investigation or a related investigation being led by New York Attorney General Letitia James. According to The Post, the property has not been named in any public flings related to either case.

But The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Vance's office is investigating a slew of properties, including the DC hotel named for the former president.

Trump acquired the property, which is located in the Old Post Office, before he was elected in 2016, but the hotel became a hotbed for controversy during his presidency as Trump continued to own his businesses, spurring allegations of conflicts of interest.

The Trump International Hotel was at the center of several lawsuits accusing Trump of violating the foreign-emoluments clause of the Constitution, which bars public officials from receiving gifts or cash from foreign or state governments without congressional approval.

According to financial disclosures, Trump made at least $40.8 million from the hotel in 2018.