RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump went out to dinner last night at a luxury hotel here in Washington, D.C., that happens to bear his name. As NPR's Jackie Northam reports, the hotel is attracting a lot of attention, not all of it positive.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: The Trump International Hotel is a grand dame of a building just a stone's throw from the White House. It's become something of a tourist destination since Donald Trump won the election - and a rallying point for protesters. This week, they snarled traffic in front of the hotel. One protester suffered serious burns after trying to set a fire outside the building. Yesterday, security guards stood behind barricades.
UNIDENTIFIED SECURITY GUARD: It's, like, hotel guests and invites only. I would assume it would probably be for the next few days. It's going to be hard to get inside the hotel.
NORTHAM: And that includes journalists. There's other trouble for the hotel besides protesters and media. Trump has a 60-year lease with the General Services Administration, or GSA, which owns the building. The GSA contract explicitly says that no elected official of the government of the United States may hold that lease. Steven Schooner, a procurement specialist at George Washington University, says Trump will be in breach of that contract once he takes office. But he says Trump doesn't seem to care.
STEVEN SCHOONER: There is no evidence whatsoever that suggests that the Trump Organization has made any effort to resolve this problem in advance of the inauguration.
NORTHAM: Last week, Trump said he's keeping his businesses but handing over day-to-day operations to his two adult sons. Schooner says even if Trump isn't heading up daily operations, holding on to the hotel lease sets up numerous conflicts of interest. Once president, Trump will oversee the GSA, so he'll be landlord and tenant. Another problem...
SCHOONER: If foreign states, if lobbyists, if special interest groups pay price premiums at the Trump hotel to host their events, to stay and maybe rub elbows with the president's children, that's a problem.
NORTHAM: Trump's lawyer, Sheri Dillon, disagrees. She said at a press conference that people will not try and curry favor by staying at the hotel.
SHERI DILLON: Paying for a hotel room is not a gift or a present, and it has nothing to do with an office.
NORTHAM: The GSA declined an interview. It said in a statement it needed more information from the Trump Organization about its new business structure before making a decision about the lease.
Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF ERNEST GONZALES' "WHILE ON SATURN'S RINGS")