More Emoluments Violations by Donald Trump
Today in Business Insider;In response to:
Trump's campaign channeled nearly $400,000 to his private business in 2 days
Sonam Sheth
6 hours ago
President Donald Trump's campaign sent nearly $400,000 to his private business in just two days, The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold reported Friday.
Fahrenthold said documents showed that the campaign channeled $380,000 to the president's personal business in 43 transactions.
The Trump Organization told Fahrenthold the money was for a weeklong "donor retreat" at Mar-a-Lago in March.
Open Secrets, a Washington organization that closely tracks money in politics, first spotted the payments in Federal Election Commission filings from the Trump Victory Committee.
President Donald Trump's campaign sent nearly $400,000 to his private business in just two days, The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold reported on Friday.
Documents showed that the campaign channeled $380,000 to the president's personal business in 43 transactions, Fahrenthold said, adding that the Trump Organization told him the money was for a weeklong "donor retreat" at Mar-a-Lago in March.
Open Secrets, an arm of the Center for Responsive Politics that closely tracks money in politics, first spotted the payments in Federal Election Commission filings from the Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee between Trump and the Republican National Committee.
This isn't the first time the president's personal and business interests have become entangled with his political office.
In February, The Post reported that the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service exorbitant rates to protect the president when he travels to his properties.
Citing federal records and people who had seen the receipts, The Post reported that the Trump Organization billed US taxpayers up to $650 per night at the Mar-a-Lago resort dozens of times in 2017 and $396.15 on dozens of occasions in 2018.
The Trump Organization also billed the Secret Service $17,000 a month in 2017 for agents to stay in a three-bedroom cottage at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to protect the president when he traveled there, The Post reported.
The report said the Secret Service was billed for the cottage even on days when Trump wasn't at the golf club.
Receipts and documents showed that US taxpayers shelled out more than $471,000 to; Trump's properties from January 2017 to April 2018, The Post said.
Trump also frequently hosts foreign leaders at Mar-a-Lago, where they pay the market rate. After Trump became president, several countries with embassies in Washington, DC, began hosting parties and events at Trump properties in what ethics experts described as a bid to curry favor with the president.
The Post reported in December 2018 that shortly after the election, Saudi-funded lobbyists spent more than $270,000 to rent rooms for about 500 nights at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
The RNC has spent more than $2 million at Trump Organization hotels and resorts. And Trump's campaign, which is funded in part by donations from the president's supporters and big-dollar donors, has spent more than $14 million at his properties.
In September, Trump faced harsh backlash when Politico reported that members of the US Air Force had stayed at Trump's five-star Turnberry resort in Scotland as part of an unusual layover on a routine trip from the US to Kuwait to deliver supplies.
That and other incidents "raise the possibility that the military has helped keep Trump's Turnberry resort afloat," the report said.
Last summer, the president also sparked a firestorm when he announced that the 2020 G7 conference, which the US is set to host, would take place at the Trump National Doral golf club in Miami, Florida.
Trump's campaign channeled nearly $400,000 to his private business in 2 days
Sonam Sheth
6 hours ago
President Donald Trump's campaign sent nearly $400,000 to his private business in just two days, The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold reported Friday.
Fahrenthold said documents showed that the campaign channeled $380,000 to the president's personal business in 43 transactions.
The Trump Organization told Fahrenthold the money was for a weeklong "donor retreat" at Mar-a-Lago in March.
Open Secrets, a Washington organization that closely tracks money in politics, first spotted the payments in Federal Election Commission filings from the Trump Victory Committee.
President Donald Trump's campaign sent nearly $400,000 to his private business in just two days, The Washington Post's David Fahrenthold reported on Friday.
Documents showed that the campaign channeled $380,000 to the president's personal business in 43 transactions, Fahrenthold said, adding that the Trump Organization told him the money was for a weeklong "donor retreat" at Mar-a-Lago in March.
Open Secrets, an arm of the Center for Responsive Politics that closely tracks money in politics, first spotted the payments in Federal Election Commission filings from the Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee between Trump and the Republican National Committee.
This isn't the first time the president's personal and business interests have become entangled with his political office.
In February, The Post reported that the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service exorbitant rates to protect the president when he travels to his properties.
Citing federal records and people who had seen the receipts, The Post reported that the Trump Organization billed US taxpayers up to $650 per night at the Mar-a-Lago resort dozens of times in 2017 and $396.15 on dozens of occasions in 2018.
The Trump Organization also billed the Secret Service $17,000 a month in 2017 for agents to stay in a three-bedroom cottage at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, to protect the president when he traveled there, The Post reported.
The report said the Secret Service was billed for the cottage even on days when Trump wasn't at the golf club.
Receipts and documents showed that US taxpayers shelled out more than $471,000 to; Trump's properties from January 2017 to April 2018, The Post said.
Trump also frequently hosts foreign leaders at Mar-a-Lago, where they pay the market rate. After Trump became president, several countries with embassies in Washington, DC, began hosting parties and events at Trump properties in what ethics experts described as a bid to curry favor with the president.
The Post reported in December 2018 that shortly after the election, Saudi-funded lobbyists spent more than $270,000 to rent rooms for about 500 nights at the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
The RNC has spent more than $2 million at Trump Organization hotels and resorts. And Trump's campaign, which is funded in part by donations from the president's supporters and big-dollar donors, has spent more than $14 million at his properties.
In September, Trump faced harsh backlash when Politico reported that members of the US Air Force had stayed at Trump's five-star Turnberry resort in Scotland as part of an unusual layover on a routine trip from the US to Kuwait to deliver supplies.
That and other incidents "raise the possibility that the military has helped keep Trump's Turnberry resort afloat," the report said.
Last summer, the president also sparked a firestorm when he announced that the 2020 G7 conference, which the US is set to host, would take place at the Trump National Doral golf club in Miami, Florida.
Comments (10)
He found a loop hole. There are many loop holes.
The fools will argue that Trump is not taking a salary.
He does not have to when he makes millions of tax payers money.
It will surely be made. Bizarre as House of Cards but with less fiction. Popularity driven by the private business lawsuits that have been on hold for 4 years.
I suspect the emoluments clause violations will be taken up after the election.
Should Congress Impeach Obama for His Emoluments Clause Violations?
Andy GrewalDecember 13, 2016
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My prior post explained how ordinary business transactions between foreign governments and the Trump Organization would not automatically create violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause regarding President-elect Trump. That post concluded that the term “emolument” refers only to payments made in connection with the performance of services for a foreign government (whether as an officer or employee), and does not refer to any conceivable payment. The prior post relied on Supreme Court opinions, Office of Legal Counsel opinions, definitions in legal dictionaries, and so on. (For my full-length law review article on the relevant issues, please see here: The Foreign Emoluments Clause and the Chief Executive.)
However, some commentators, most notably Professor Richard Painter (Minnesota) and Norm Eisen (Brookings Institution), have argued for a much broader definition of emolument. The legal basis for their interpretation remains unclear because they make no mention of Supreme Court opinions, OLC opinions, Comptroller General opinions, legislative enactments, or other legal authorities, but their article in The Atlantic defines emoluments as reaching “anything of value.” (Their longer Brookings Institution report, co-authored with Professor Larry Tribe, takes a similarly broad approach without citing or examining relevant authorities. See page 11.) This post explains how their interpretation, if accepted, would support the impeachment of President Obama.
To understand why this is so, one should note that the term “emolument” appears multiple times in the Constitution. For President-elect Trump, commentary has focused on the Foreign Emoluments Clause, but the Constitution also contains a Domestic Emoluments Clause. The Domestic Emoluments Clause provides, as relevant here, that the President shall receive a fixed compensation for his services, but “shall not receive . . . any other Emolument from the United States.” This clause guards against, among other things, the legislature compromising the President’s independence by offering him additional emoluments. See Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 73.
Under Eisen, Painter and Tribe’s definition of emolument, President Obama has violated the Domestic Emoluments Clause. The President’s financial disclosures reveal that he owns United States Treasury bonds, and that he has received interest payments from the United States. See Page 3 of 2015 Disclosures (reporting between $500,000.00 and $1,000,000.00 of Treasury bonds held by Obama directly or through an IRA). The interest income paid by the United States to President Obama is not part of the fixed compensation attached to the Presidency. Consequently, if an emolument includes any payment, Obama’s receipt of interest income from the United States violates the Domestic Emoluments Clause. Under Eisen, Painter and Tribe’s definition of emolument, President Obama must be impeached.
But one might argue, for whatever reason, that interest income should be excluded from the definition of emolument. However, Professor Painter specifically points to payments from banks as a constitutional problem. See Mother Jones, Nov. 11, 2016 (Painter: “ayments from banks controlled by foreign governments would fall under the emoluments clause.”). And if interest income from the Chinese government is prohibited under the Foreign Emoluments Clause, it’s hard to see why interest income from the United States government would not be similarly prohibited under the Domestic Emoluments Clause. (For another instance where President Obama profited from U.S. government transactions, see USA Today, State Dept. buys $70K of Obama books (Oct. 26, 2011).)
Lets see if Trump will be.
It is not just these two.
With that, and the pending lawsuits and a come-back campaign, it will be quite a while before we hear the last of T-Rump Wrecks every day.