Skip to footer

Democrats in Congress file suit against Trump for violating emoluments clause

Democrats in the Senate and House filed a lawsuit against President Trump Wednesday. Nearly 200 plaintiffs allege that he has violated the Constitution by remaining invested in the Trump Organization, which means he could benefit financially from foreign governments.

|
Jonathan Hayward/AP/File
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump attend the grand opening of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Feb. 28, 2017. When he took office, President Trump passed on executive responsibilities of the Trump Organization to his sons and a senior executive.
  • By Julie Bykowicz Associated Press

| Washington

Democratic lawmakers are suing President Trump over foreign money flowing into his global business empire.

Almost 200 senators and representatives are plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging Mr. Trump is violating the so-called emoluments clause of the Constitution. It's being filed early Wednesday in US District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawmakers said.

The plaintiffs argue they have standing to sue because the clause says only Congress may approve foreign gifts and payments.

"The framers gave Congress a unique role, a unique right and responsibility," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) of Connecticut who helped organize the lawsuit.

Although Trump turned over control of his real estate development, management, and marketing company to his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and a senior executive, he did not divest from it. That means he stands to benefit financially from the Trump Organization's profits, including from foreign governments.

Since he's become president, the Trump Organization has secured dozens of potentially valuable patents, including in China, and collected fees from lobbyists working for Saudi Arabia and other countries using his properties.

The new suit – the third of its kind – says the full scope of foreign payments to the Trump Organization cannot be known because the president has not made public his tax returns.

Earlier this week, two Democratic attorneys general filed a similar claim. Days after Trump's inauguration in January, a liberal-funded government watchdog filed an emoluments lawsuit. A restaurant group and two individuals in the hotel industry later joined as co-plaintiffs.

Trump and the Justice Department have called these lawsuits baseless. They argue the clause isn't intended to prevent normal business such as hotel payments and real estate transactions.

Rep. John Conyers (D) of Michigan said he and Senator Blumenthal have amassed the "greatest number of congressional plaintiffs on any lawsuit against a president." He said they're taking the action "not out of any sense of pleasure or partisanship but because President Trump has left us with no other option."

Ahead of the filing, only Democrats were asked to sign on, but Blumenthal and Senator Conyers plan to send letters to their Republican colleagues Wednesday asking them to join the effort.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Democrats in Congress file suit against Trump for violating emoluments clause
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2017/0614/Democrats-in-Congress-file-suit-against-Trump-for-violating-emoluments-clause
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe