"Emoluments" is a word I have never heard until the other day. Now I hear it every day.

It seems the US Constitution prohibits any POTUS from receiving "emoluments" from ‘any King, Prince, or foreign State’  and an emolument is not only a present or gift but any payment.

If Trump does not sell and liquidate his businesses, so say not one but two presidential ethics lawyers (one worked for Bush, the other for Obama), he would be in violation of the Constitution.

Other more partisan voices are saying that the Electors cannot/should not vote for Trump until he does liquidate his businesses ...

Electors can serve an important function. What if the people elect a Manchurian candidate? Or a murderer? Or someone who receives emoluments?

The Electoral College would need a very good reason not to elect Trump. Would emoluments be it?

There is a precedent:  "In 1824 Congress decided the election for John Quincy Adams; in 1876, Congress that gave disputed electoral college votes to Rutherford B. Hayes"

And ... Benjamin Harrison lost the popular vote to Grover Cleveland but won in the electoral college because Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall turned New York away from Cleveland by fewer than 15,000 votes.

then of course there was Bush v Gore ...

the question is, will Trump actually liquidate his assets? but can that be done by his swearing in? unlikely.

i suspect he never expected to get this far which is why he made absurd statements such as "I will let my kids run my companies" which is still in violation of the Constitution ...

funny how the rapid Trump supporters on this board who have so much to say have nothing to say about this matter

Donald Trump and the Emoluments Clause, explained


http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/23/13715150/donald-trump-emoluments-clause-constitution

Trump is signaling that he really will build a wall but not a physical one. Instead a wall between him and his businesses. But how will he do it?

Emoluments really are the chink in his armor ...

The Emoluments Clause is Trump's Achilles heel. This is what could get him in real trouble, not his alleged Golden Shower and other Russian connections.Two top Washington DC ethics lawyers, one who worked for Bush and the other for Obama, have called on Trump to completely divest his businesses but he said in a press conference yesterday he would not.

Keep an eye on this. This could get him impeached ... easily.

Trump is being sued, but not because his enemies want to sling schitt but because there are people who care that he was in violation of the Emoluments clause of the US Constitution on the very first second of his presidency.

Thing is, the Republican Congress could sort this out fairly easily. But questions would be asked. And tax returns made public. And Trump can't even trust his own party in this matter.

I am certain we will hear more about this AiA and soon.

Yep, the Emoluments Clause is Trump's Achilles Heel:

"Seventy-five percent of Americans want to see the President’s tax returns and so do we," Mr. Eisen said in a statement. "We will seek those in discovery in this case in order to establish the details of the emoluments clause violations here."

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2017/0123/Emoluments-lawsuit-Political-maneuvering-or-a-viable-tactic?cmpid=FB

Agnes wrote on Jan 25^th, 2017 at 1:55pm:

I am certain we will hear more about this AiA and soon.

This will never go away for Trump, unless Congress sorts it out and he won't allow that so it will probably bring him down in the end.

https://youtu.be/AlIuNycZpFI