“The President’s conflicts of interest threaten our democracy, ” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said.
The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia announced Monday they’ve filed a suit against President Trump, alleging he violated the Constitution by failing to sever ties to his business empire and accepting foreign payments while in office.
“The President’s conflicts of interest threaten our democracy, ” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said during a joint press conference with D. C. Attorney General Karl Racine. “We cannot treat the President’s ongoing violations of the Constitution and his disregard of the rights of the American people as the new acceptable status quo.”
Their suit, filed in Maryland federal court, alleges that Trump’s real estate and business holdings violate a little-known emoluments clause of the Constitution which bar the President and other government employees from accepting foreign gifts and payments without congressional approval.
At the center of the suit is the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D. C., where Trump regularly welcomes foreign diplomats. He also appears frequently at Trump establishments, “using his role as president to raise their public profile, ” Frosh said, adding that Trump continues to take money from foreign governments while in office.
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“We have economic interests that are impacted, but the most salient factor is that when the President is subject to foreign influence, we have to be concerned about whether the actions he’s taking — both at home and abroad — are the result of payments that he is receiving at the Trump Hotel, payments that he is receiving at Mar-a-Lago, payments that he is receiving at Trump Tower, payments that he is receiving in all of his other far-flung enterprises, and he brags about it, ” Frosh told the AP.
The lawsuit also focuses on the fact that Trump chose to retain ownership of his company when he became President. Trump said he was shifting assets into a trust managed by his sons to eliminate potential conflicts of interests.
In January, government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a similar federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at his daily press briefing that Trump’s “interests as previously discussed do not violate the emoluments clause.”
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“It’s not hard to conclude that partisan politics are behind this, ” he added, explaining that, “I think we’ll move to dismiss the case in the normal course of business.”
“This lawsuit is just another iteration of the case that was filed by CREW, ” he said.
Trump himself has called the earlier lawsuit about the emoluments issue “without merit, totally without merit.”
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Were a federal judge to allow the case to proceed, Racine and Frosh say they will demand copies of Trump’s personal tax returns and other financial information in court to gauge the extent of his foreign business dealings.
The lawmakers, both Democrats, have said they would also argue that Trump failed to distance himself from his Trump Organization assets — despite putting sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. in charge through a trust — and he continues to benefit from the White House
Trump’s business portfolio boasts of hotels in New York City, Las Vegas, Chicago and Miami.
The Trump Organization also owns more than a dozen more golf clubs globally, including properties in Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey.
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With News Wire Services
