(CNN) The General Services Administration improperly "ignored the Constitution" when deciding to maintain the lease of the Old Post Office Building to the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC after Donald Trump was elected to the White House, according to an inspector general report released Wednesday.

The report covers the GSA's evaluation of whether the lease violated clauses in the Constitution designed to prevent corruption and self-dealing by the President as well as its analysis of whether Trump's ongoing interest in the hotel violates a section of the lease that says no elected official of the US government can profit from it.

Lawyers from the GSA's Office of General Counsel who were reviewing the lease "all agreed early on that there was a possible violation" of the constitutional ban on gifts or benefits from foreign and domestic governments to the president. "Nonetheless, the attorneys decided to ignore the emoluments issues," the report found.

The report disclosed that 11 days after Trump's inauguration, lawyers from the GSA and the lease contracting officer met with Trump's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, where the officer "strongly encouraged" the President's divestiture from the hotel. Trump, however, ultimately declined to divest.

Though the report concluded that GSA's decision-making process involved "serious shortcomings," it recommended only that the GSA conduct a legal review of the language in its future contracts.

Read More