WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s businesses received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments during his presidency, according to new documents released Thursday by House Democrats that show how much he received from overseas transactions while he was in the White House, most of it from China.

The transactions, detailed in a 156-page report called “White House For Sale” that was produced by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, offer concrete evidence that the former president engaged in the kind of conduct that House Republicans have labored, so far unsuccessfully, to prove that President Joe Biden did as they work to build an impeachment case against him.

Using documents produced through a court fight, the report describes how foreign governments and their controlled entities, including a top U.S. adversary, interacted with Trump businesses while he was president. They paid millions to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, and Trump Tower and Trump World Tower, both in New York.

The Constitution prohibits a president from accepting money, payments or gifts “of any kind whatever from foreign governments and monarchs unless he obtains the consent of the Congress” to do so. The report notes that Trump never went to Congress to seek consent.

House Democrats highlighted the transactions as a counterweight to Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Biden, which has sought to tie him to international business deals by his son Hunter before his father became president in a bid to prove corruption or influence peddling. They have so far failed to show that Joe Biden was enriched in any way by any of those transactions.

“By elevating his personal financial interests and the policy priorities of corrupt foreign powers over the American public interest, former President Trump violated both the clear commands of the Constitution and the careful precedent set and observed by every previous commander in chief,” Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, wrote in a foreword to the report.

Among the countries patronizing Trump’s properties, China made the largest total payment — $5.5 million — to his business interests, the report found. Those payments included millions of dollars from China’s Embassy in the United States, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Hainan Airlines Holding Co.

Saudi Arabia was the second-largest spender, shelling out more than $615,000 at Trump World Tower and Trump International Hotel.

Eric Trump, the former president’s son, has long insisted that foreign interests did not influence his father’s presidency and that any profit the company earned on the hotel stays was returned to the federal government through a voluntary annual payment to the Treasury Department.

But Raskin noted Thursday that donating profits to the Treasury falls short of the constitutional requirements placed on a president.

On Thursday, Eric Trump said in an email that the Chinese bank mentioned in the report had signed a 20-year lease at Trump Tower in 2008, almost a decade before his father took office. And he argued that it was clear that the former president had not allowed his personal business incentives to drive his official actions.

“That narrative is insane,” Eric Trump said of the Democrats’ report. He added that “there is no president in United States history who was tougher on China than Donald Trump,” citing the substantial tariffs the former president imposed on the country’s goods and services.

He also said the Trump Organization did “not have the ability or viability to stop someone from booking through third parties” at the hotel.

House Republicans also dismissed the revelations, arguing that there was nothing wrong with Trump receiving revenue from foreign governments while he was president but that Biden’s family business was corrupt.

“Former President Trump has legitimate businesses, but the Bidens do not,” Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the oversight panel, said in a statement Thursday. He charged that the Bidens had made more than three times as much as the new records show Trump had from foreign governments “by cashing in on the Biden name,” adding that “no goods or services were provided other than access to Joe Biden and the Biden network.”

The Democrats’ report also acknowledges its own limitations. Democrats fought aggressively through years of litigation to gain access to only a portion of Trump’s business records. After they won court rulings, Mazars USA, the longtime accounting firm for Trump that cut ties with him and his family business, began in 2022 turning over documents related to his financial dealings.

But once Republicans won control of the House, they dropped the effort to force Mazars to continue with its production of documents about Trump’s business dealings.

The Democrats’ investigation began in 2016.

The report urges Congress to consider adopting new disclosure rules to help the legislative branch obtain information for proper oversight. It also recommends a more formal procedure for presidents and other officials to seek Congress’ permission when they receive and want to retain wealth from other countries.