George Washington did it, so Donald Trump can, too.
That’s the Justice Department’s take on why the 45th president isn’t violating the U.S. Constitution by accepting payments for goods and services from foreign governments without congressional approval.
The foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution doesn’t apply to fair-market commercial transactions, such as hotel bills, golf club fees, licensing payments and office rent, the Justice department argued Friday in a filing. The government is asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit brought by a watchdog group that claims Trump’s business dealings violate the Constitution.
If accepted by the court, the argument would eliminate a major legal obstacle for Trump’s businesses to keep money from foreign officials and companies owned by foreign governments.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, sued Trump within days of his inauguration in January, claiming foreign officials are doing business with Trump properties as a way to curry favor with the president. The group is seeking an order from U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams in Manhattan that Trump is violating the foreign emoluments clause and the domestic emoluments clause, which specifically bars presidents from taking payments from federal or state officials.
The argument essentially states that since Washington's Mt. Vernon plantation sold flour and cornmeal to various foreign lands while he served as President, that it is the same as allowing the Trump organization to engage in huge real estate deals with foreign countries that could be worth millions of dollars, and may also serve as a way to influence Trump's policies toward those countries.
In their desperation they also cited the fact that some of President Obama's books were sold overseas so the royalties he received from those sales would also violate the emoluments clause, a rationalization so pathetic that it does not simply strain credulity, it takes it out back and stomps on its neck.
Donald Trump clearly does not see the presidency as an opportunity to serve his country, but rather sees it as the greatest advertisement opportunity of his life, with which he can dramatically increase his wealth.
And apparently the now ironically named Justice Department is working to help him do that.
Source http://ift.tt/2rkmttj
