6/11/2017
Washington, D.C. and Maryland’s Attorney General’s filed suit against President Trump Monday alleging he violated the Constitution by accepting millions of dollars in payments and benefits from foreign governments since becoming president in January. The lawsuit claims Trump violated two anti-corruption provisions in the Constitution regarding emoluments that prohibit the president from earning profits from businesses he owns, controls or prospers from.
The emoluments clause, which forbids government officials from accepting payments and gifts from foreign governments, raises the question of whether the president is allowed to continue collecting profits from a global Trump brand. Specifically, the clause states “No Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
According to the suit, Trump has received payments or benefits from governments including China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Indonesia which have paid for rooms and events at Trump hotels or leased space in Trump buildings or, as in the case with China, have been granted valuable trademarks. The suit states “President Trump’s continued ownership interest in a global business empire, which renders him deeply enmeshed with a legion of foreign and domestic government actors violates the Constitution and calls into question the rule of law and the integrity of the country’s political system.”
For example, the Embassy of Kuwait switched its event from the Four Seasons hotel to the Trump International Hotel in D.C. Last month, the government of Turkey held a state-sponsored event at Trump’s hotel. And back in April, Georgia’s ambassador stayed at the hotel and tweeted about his experience.
Past presidents have either divested themselves from any business ownership, or have put their ownership in a blind trust whereby they are unaware of any ownership that they may have. Trump announced in January that he’d turn over his business dealings to his sons Eric and Donald Jr. (not divest). He also said he wouldn’t make any new business deals outside the U.S. while president. However, in a March 2017 interview with Forbes magazine, Eric Trump stated that he would keep his father updated on the business, thus implying that the president would be well informed in all aspects of his personal holdings.
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