Trump Hotel in DC Vandalized With Graffiti

The new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., was vandalized with graffiti Saturday afternoon, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Someone spray painted the phrases "Black Lives Matter" and "No Justice No Peace" at one of the entrances of the luxury hotel. Workers at the hotel covered up the messages with pieces of plywood.

Police said a man dressed in a yellow shirt and hat walked up to the side entrance on 12th Street NW just after 4 p.m. and spray painted the building's facade.

Video posted on social media appears to show the man tagging the building while bystanders condemned him and threatened to call police.

Police are searching for the man.

In 2013, the Trump Organization won a 60-year lease from the federal government to transform the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue into a luxury hotel.

The hotel was embroiled in controversy before it even opened. Several chefs who had planned to open restaurants in the newly renovated space pulled out of the project, citing Trump's comments about undocumented Mexican immigrants.

Trump was also accused of "baiting" the media to cover the hotel's opening by promising to finally address the birther controversy swirling around his campaign. The businessman turned the event into an infomercial for his latest real-estate project, only briefly acknowledging President Barack Obama was born in the Unites States, after touting the hotel for coming "under budget and ahead of schedule."

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