I have on this blog since the rise of donald trump as a corrupt political force of doom documented how much of what trump was doing was out of greed, needy for money and happy to pander to foreign powers to get as much as he could.
Well, today a number of Democrats on the House Oversight Committee - in order to counter the Republicans' obsession over Hunter Biden's dick pics laptop - presented solid evidence that trump routinely violated the Constitution's Emoluments Clause by taking millions from foreign countries like China, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar (via Luke Broadwater at the New York Times (may be paywalled)):
Donald J. Trump’s businesses received at least $7.8 million from 20 foreign governments during his presidency, according to new documents released by House Democrats on Thursday 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 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, D.C.; Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas; Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York; and Trump World Tower at 845 United Nations Plaza in New York.
The Constitution prohibits federal officeholders from accepting money, payments or gifts “of any kind whatever” from foreign governments and monarchs unless they obtain “the consent of the Congress” to do so. The report notes that Mr. Trump never went to Congress to seek consent...
It so happened that in 2017 when this all started that Congress was under Republican control, and the Republicans are too cowardly and too crooked themselves to raise a fuss over trump's open corruption. trump didn't even need to bother Congresscritters who were happy to look the other way.
Among the countries patronizing Mr. 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 the Hainan Airlines Holding Company.
Saudi Arabia was the second-largest spender, shelling out more than $615,000 at the Trump World Tower and Trump International Hotel...
Half of this was stuff we already knew over years of reporting about how foreign lobbyists would check into trump's DC hotel pandering for favors. It's just now, we have a great idea how much money was actually involved.
The frustrating question to ask now - just as I'd been asking since 2017 - is WHEN THE FCK CAN WE CHARGE TRUMP FOR VIOLATING THE EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE?!
Part of me is worried that we may be too late: there is a thing about statute of limitations, that there's a ticking clock to when the legal system can't pursue the matter any further. Granted, trump was doing this all the way up to January 20, 2021: There is hope the clock hasn't run out.
But one of the things that kept coming up in the courts whenever the lawsuits were filed was who had standing to do so (this is from Laurel Wamsley for NPR back in 2019):
A constitutional challenge to President Trump's continued ownership of his businesses has been ordered dismissed by a federal appeals court.
The case was brought by the attorneys general of Washington, D.C., and Maryland, arguing that Trump had violated the domestic and foreign emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution by accepting money from state and foreign governments via his Washington hotel and business empire.
A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled unanimously that the attorneys general did not have the standing to bring the lawsuit and instructed a lower court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Judge Paul Niemeyer wrote in the opinion: "The District and Maryland's interest in enforcing the Emoluments Clauses is so attenuated and abstract that their prosecution of this case readily provokes the question of whether this action against the President is an appropriate use of the courts, which were created to resolve real cases and controversies between the parties."
One thing that ruling didn't spell out was: If the state AGs didn't have standing, who did? I'm still not sure, other than it being Congress, except that another court ruling in 2020 said the Democrats in Congress didn't have standing either (via Dareh Gregorian at NBC News).
In the ruling, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found the members of Congress did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit against the president for violating the clause, which bars federal officials from collecting payments from foreign governments without the approval of Congress.
In their unsigned ruling, the judges cited Supreme Court precedent, noting the 215 lawmakers filing the lawsuit are not the majority of Congress, and that they might have had standing if they had done so as a majority. "[O]nly an institution can assert an institutional injury," the ruling says...
This feels like moving the goal posts on the part of the courts: "Oh, only Congress can charge trump with Emoluments violations! No wait, only a MAJORITY of Congress members can charge trump! No wait, only a MAJORITY of BOTH HOUSES of Congress members can charge trump! No wait, only..."
/headdesk
For all the back and forth, all the debates over all the other crimes trump's been charged with, the one thing we KNOW trump committed - using his businesses to curry favor from foreign powers - is the one thing nobody seems able to charge him on.
What the hell, judges. What the hell, Republicans. You're letting the corruption flow freely anymore.
The only way to hold trump - and his Republican cronies - accountable is to deny him another chance to sit in the White House and violate the Emoluments Clause any further. Stop voting Republican, Americans. Stop voting for the crooks.
1 comment:
Peter Huestis, who used to blog under the pseudonym "Princess Sparkle Pony" works at the National Gallery of Art, DC. As such, he has had to turn down a gift of a pair of Dr. Martens because they cost more than $50, which is apparently the limit government employees have on the receipt of gifts at work.
-Doug in Sugar Pine
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