James C. Nelson, John Bonifaz


It has been widely acknowledged that, upon swearing the Oath of Office, President Donald Trump would be in direct violation of the foreign-emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Never heard of the foreign-emoluments clause? You’re not alone. It’s tucked away in Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution. It's clause number 8. It states, in pertinent part: "... no person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office or Title of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.”

This clause was included in the Articles of Confederation and, later, in the Constitution itself. It was borne out of the Framers’ obsession with preventing in the newly minted United States the sort of corruption that dominated 17th and 18th century foreign politics and governments — characterized by gift-giving, back-scratching, foreign interference in other countries and transactions that might not lead to corruption but, nonetheless, could give the appearance of impropriety.

Where Trump runs afoul of the foreign-emoluments clause is that, first and foremost, he is a businessman with significant financial interests and governmental entanglements all over the globe. Indeed, as Norman Eisen, Richard Painter and Laurence Tribe stated at the Brookings Institution, “Never in American history has a [President] presented more conflict of interest questions and foreign entanglements than Donald Trump.” Moreover, Trump’s businesses dealings are veiled in complicated corporate technicalities and lack transparency.

The Trump Organization does or has done business in Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, St. Martin, St. Vincent, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Uruguay. And, while serving as President, Trump, through his interest in the Trump Organization, will continue to receive monetary and other benefits from these foreign powers and their agents.

Examples of existing business arrangements that constitute violations of the foreign-emoluments clause include: China’s state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is the largest tenant in Trump Tower, and the state-owned Bank of China is a major lender to Trump. Trump’s business partner in Trump Tower Century City in Manila, Philippines is Century Properties, which is run by Jose Antonio, who was just named special envoy to the United States by the president of the Philippines. Further, many Trump Organization projects abroad require foreign government permits and approvals, which amount to
substantial financial benefits that also constitute foreign emoluments.

Presidents and public officers often utilize blind trusts so as not to violate the foreign-emoluments clause. A truly blind trust involves an arrangement wherein the public officer has no control whatsoever over the assets placed in the trust — that means no communications with, from or about the trust, and no knowledge of the specific assets held for his benefit in the trust. In the case of Trump’s ownership in the Trump Organization, this could be achieved only by a complete liquidation of the assets, with the proceeds to be invested by an independent Trustee, without Trump’s involvement or knowledge. Trump’s decision to continue the business of the Trump Organization, continue to maintain his substantial ownership of the organization and turn the management of it over to his children, is woefully inadequate in addressing the emoluments clause.

Worse, taking the position that the foreign-emoluments clause doesn’t even apply to him, Trump has stated that: “I can be President of the United States and run my business 100 percent, sign checks on my business.” And: “The law is totally on my side, meaning, the president can’t have a conflict of interest.”

To address this unprecedented corruption of the Oval Office and this threat to our Constitution and our democracy, we believe Congress must move forward now with an impeachment investigation of President Trump. More than 575,000 people from across the country have already called for this, joining a new campaign launched moments after President Trump took the Oath of Office. The President’s possible conflicts of interest have become increasingly apparent.
In the meantime, instead of starting to “make America great again,” the 45th President should read the Constitution and “make the President honest again.”

After all, he swore to uphold the Constitution.


http://time.com/4658633/impeach-donald-trump-congress/

I'll take the leadership of the alpha male, grounded businessman with 1000's of hours of crawling elbow deep thru the mud to claw his way to the top

over

the armchair critics who give themselves the 'title" of 'legal scholars'.  that sounds like a frat club for mediocre beta males who have done nothing, risked nothing, made love to no one and sit around like the pussy's and punk ass bitches that the superior man would run a mile from .

Apparently he has already made decisions that have benefited his own company. Huge conflict of interest.

Richdude wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 4:18am:


Are you getting treatment for your paranoia?

Richdude wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 4:18am:



"His first millions were handed to him on a silver platter, and he now owes billions of dollars to hundreds of creditors."

No garbage.  No lies.

Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 9:57am:



You dont seem to be noticing what is actually happening and instead, relying on some ideological position while closing your ears and eyes to what is actually going on.

Im no leftie and I oppose Trump.  The republicans who are openly opposing Trump are not lefties. Why can you not work out that there is more to this than mere ideological posturing?

longweekend58 wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 11:28am:


I have a very good understanding of what's happening.
the left and cucked republicans have the same interests, and those interests are at odds with the trump voters and supporters. 1. against illegal immigration, 2. against middle eastern interventions, 3. against undesirable immigrants - potential terrorists, 4. against left-leaning education, which has nothing to do with helping the majority of the population, 5. against offshoring jobs. call these ideological if you want. in the end it doesn't matter what label you put on them. what's important is that the two groups - trump supports and non-trump supports - have different interests and goals. it's really quite basic and all politics revolves around this.

Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on Feb 17^th, 2017 at 11:47am:


But Trump is not against that. Otherwise, why was every single country from where actual terrorists killed Americans on American soil - not on his ban list? Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan... Trump welcomes them with open arms it seems. Instead he bans citizens of countries that have not killed a single American on American soil.