Trump's lawyers sought to influence President of Panama in hotel dispute

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Lawyers for the Trump Organization sent a letter to the President of Panama attempting to pressure his government to intervene in a dispute over management of a former Trump branded hotel in Panama after it lost management control last month.

The letter, dated March 22, was sent to President Juan Carlos Varela by the law firm Britton & Iglesias, who represent Trump’s hotel management company in Panama. The letter was first revealed by Panama’s daily newspaper La Prensa on Monday.

Univision news obtained a copy of the letter which was also sent to the heads of the judiciary and legislature in Panama.

In the letter, the lawyers asked Varela to intervene in the case to avoid "damage to the Panamanian state,” potentially turning a bitter ongoing commercial dispute into a diplomatic incident that also raises conflict of interest issues between the White House and President Trump’s personal business interests.

The letter to Varela said it “URGENTLY requests his influence" in relation to the legal dispute involving the Trump Hotel. Despite recognizing that the Varela was bound by the separation of powers between the executive branch and the judiciary, the letter went on to suggest that if he did not intervene the government might end up being blamed for alleged legal irregularities in the case.

“There will inevitably be more of these conflicts of interest around the world where the Trump Organization has commercial interests," said the former U.S. ambassador to Panama, John Feeley, who resigned earlier this year in part over differences with the Trump administration’s belligerent approach to foreign policy.

"American diplomats will stay away from involving themselves and refer the issue to the White House, but what happens when members of the First Family meet with sovereign heads of state to seek advantage for the President’s bottom line?" he added. "Ethical lines of public-private interests will be blurred and America will lose friends."

The letter added that the handling of the hotel dispute in Panama involved violations of due proceess and the terms of a 1983 commercial agreement protecting the rights of U.S. investors in Panama.

A court ruling on March 5 stripped Trump’s management company of the hotel's administration after complaints by the owners, led by a Miami-based private equity company, Ithaca Capital Partners. The Trump name was also removed from signage outside the hotel, which has since been renamed The Bahia Grand Panamá.

Late last month the Trump Organization suffered another legal defeat when an international arbitrator ruled against returning control of a landmark hotel in Panama to the president's company.

Panama's vice president told reporters that the government would not get involved in the dispute.

"I don’t think that the executive branch has a position to take while this issue is in process in the judicial branch,” Vice President Isabel Saint Malo told reporters.

Britton & Iglesias issued a statement on Monday saying the firm "rejected any assumption or assertion that the letter sought to "pressure" the President of the Republic of Panama or any other official of the government."

The statement added that the letter "was such a routine matter for our firm, that the authorization of Trump Organization for its delivery was not requested, and nobody at Trump Organization was aware if the letter until today (Monday).

A spokesperson for the Trump Organization declined to comment.

The White House did not reply to a request for comment.

A lawyer consulted by Univision pointed out that any commercial agreement with the United States was more likely to uphold the rights of Ithaca Capital as it is the main investor in the hotel, while the Trump Organization was operating under a management contract.

Francisco Pérez Carreira, a specialist in international law, told La Prensa that the letter was a clear attempt to pressure the president to interfere in a legal case in violation of the separation of powers between the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government.