The real estate company started by Donald Trump and run by his two adult sons complained bitterly on Friday about a news story that charged them with hiding profits from foreign governments that rent condominiums in a New York City building that bears their famous last name. Reuters reported Thursday that the State Department 'allowed at least seven foreign governments to rent luxury condominiums in New York's Trump World Tower in 2017 without approval from Congress.' The 72-story building, adjacent to the United Nations, routinely houses diplomats. The roughly 1,600-word article concluded that the leases could represent presidential violations of the U.S. Constitution's 'emoluments clause,' which bars government officials from accepting payments from foreign governments unless Congress consents first. Eric Trump told DailyMail.com on Friday, however, that the Trump Organization doesn't own any condominiums inside Trump World Tower and has no idea who might rent them from those who do. 'We wouldn't know, nor should we, if someone is renting or who it is that's renting,' Trump said in a phone call. Asked if he or the company would know if Vladimir Putin were personally renting a condo in the building, he replied: 'Nope.' 'None of the units we have any ownership stake in. Not one. And this is why it's so unfair,' he said. Trump said Friday that his family business gets 'a flat fee every year from each [condominium] owner for managing the building,' but emphasized that 'we're not getting paid by the renter. We're getting paid by the owner.' He likened the condo fee agreements to contracts that many suburban families sign with homeowners associations, requiring regular payments to cover trash and recycling pickup, street sweeping and snow plowing. 'Imagine if you had your house – if you wanted to rent it to somebody, you could rent it to anyone you want. It's a private transaction. You don't have to tell your neighbors or a homeowners association or anyone else who's renting it,' he said. He also said the Trump Organization 'disgorges' all its profits from transactions with foreign governments by writing an annual check to the U.S. Treasury. This year's donation, representing profits in 2018, was a February 20 payment of $191,538, up from $151,470 during the previous year. The company has showed DailyMail.com copies of the checks for both years, signed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., which Eric trump said covered 'any profits we can pinpoint' related to hotels, residential buildings and all of its other real estate projects worldwide. The Trump Organization has not described any third-party auditing related to those yearly searches for constitutionally problematic earnings. Reuters initially reported that Trump World Tower 'is controlled by a limited partnership owned by Trump and managed by the Trump Corporation ... according to the building's financial records.' That claim disappeared from the story around midnight Thursday. Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten told Reuters after its story first appeared online that it was 'inaccurate' and 'misleading,' saying that the owners of Trump World Tower's condos also collectively own the building itself. Reuters cited '[s]ix legal experts' who said that if the Trump Organization collected income from owners of condo units whose residents were foreign government-related renters, the arrangement still could represent 'a potential breach of the emoluments clause.' A third version of the news story noted the possibility that '[c]ertain constitutional scholars counter that the definition of "emolument" should be more narrow, a view that Trump's attorneys share.' The latest edit cites South Texas College of Law professor Josh Blackman, who said only payments to a U.S. official that are 'tied to the discharge of official duties' should be considered 'emoluments.' Reuters noted a 1982 federal law which dictates that before a foreign governments can buy, rent, sell or otherwise use real estate in the U.S., it must get the State Department's permission. Records show that 13 such requests were filed in the first eight months of the Trump presidency for clearance to initiate or renew leases in Trump World Tower. That number exceeded similar requests during the previous two years, suggesting foreign governments suddenly may have seen valuable diplomatic cachet in boasting Trump-branded addresses. Non-Trump-related real estate transactions during the Trump presidency, however, would have required the same government notice. Eric Trump said Friday that his company told Reuters reporter Julia Harte before her deadline that it didn't own any of the condo units in Trump World Tower. 'This story is an absolute joke,' he vented in a text message. These units are owned by third parties, a fact that was communicated to her directly in advance of the story being published.' 'This is dishonest journalism,' he wrote, 'and a disgrace to the industry and profession.' He added that the Trump Organization sold off the condos it owned in the building more than a decade ago but still owns a bar a restaurant there, and manages the building. The president's latest annual financial disclosure form lists a handful of companies that appear related to Trump World Tower but no residential real estate there. Reuters Senior Director of Communications Heather Carpenter responded to inquiries with a brief email that read: 'We stand by our reporting.' Carpenter also shared a link to what she called 'the final version of the story.' Reuters vice president Jamie Austin also called DailyMail.com on Friday from London but offered no comment on the record. A group of 200 congressional Democrats and the attorneys general of the District of Columbia and Maryland have filed lawsuits accusing Trump of accepting illegal 'emoluments' from foreign government through revenues to the business he still legally owns, and which his sons operate. Trump's lawyers have embraced Blackman's legal theory, saying real estate income that originates overseas is not prohibited because it's not linked to his presidential duties. The most recent legal decision, a preliminary one issued Tuesday in federal court, went against him. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan refused to dismiss the Democrats' lawsuit, calling the narrower interpretation of the Constitution 'unpersuasive and inconsistent.' That leaves open the possibility that they could soon be allowed to demand documents from the Trump Organization that could be politically explosive in the future. The Justice Department is expected to ask a federal appeals court to step in. Trump World Tower was completed in 2001. Within five years, Donald Trump was embroiled in a struggle with the building's condominium board and an unknown lawyer named Michael Cohen helped him wrest control away from the members who sought lower fees. Cohen went on to become the Trump Organization's vice president and Donald Trump's personal 'fixer.' He will report to a federal prison in upstate New York on Monday to serve a three-year sentence following guilty pleas for tax and bank fraud, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress.All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility