The blue letters over an entrance at the Trump International Hotel alluded to questions about the president’s business affairs with foreign governments.
Large blue letters projected over the entrance to the Trump International Hotel in Washington on Monday night read “Pay Trump Bribes Here, ” an allusion to questions about President Trump’s business affairs with foreign governments.
Two other images were projected in rotation: “Emoluments welcome” at the top as images of the flags of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey appeared, and the Emoluments Clause in its entirety.
The clause is an obscure provision of the Constitution that critics of Mr. Trump say he should be held to if he benefits from transactions with companies controlled by foreign governments.
“Emolument” means compensation for labor or services. The clause says that “no person holding any office of profit or trust” shall “accept of any present, emolument, office or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state” unless Congress consents.
An artist, Robin Bell of Bell Visuals, said on Twitter he was responsible for the projections.
“Had a lot of fun projecting #emolumentswelcome on Trump hotel, ” he wrote on Twitter on Monday night. On his website, Mr. Bell described himself as a video journalist and multimedia artist who works on political and public interest projects.
Mr. Bell did not respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday. Referring to Mr. Trump, he told The Huffington Post: “It seems like a very clear case of his impropriety. It’s a great visualization of a clear-cut example of the laws that he’s breaking.”
A spokeswoman for the hotel did not return a phone call seeking comment on Tuesday.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a legal watchdog group, filed a federal lawsuit in January and amended it in April, accusing Mr. Trump of violating the Constitution by continuing to own and profit from his far-flung business empire.
The amended complaint claimed that he had harmed an organization that represents more than 200 restaurants and nearly 25,000 employees. Its clients compete directly with restaurants that Mr. Trump owns or in which he has a financial interest.
Mr. Trump and his administration have been past targets of Mr. Bell.
An undated photo on his website shows another projection — “Experts agree: Trump is a pig” — at the hotel’s entrance and “#PollutingPruitt” at the entrance to the Environmental Protection Agency a few blocks away, referring to the agency’s administrator, Scott Pruitt.
