Trump claims "the Constitution does not forbid fair-market-value transactions with foreign officials

WVMade

Redshirt
Aug 23, 2016
1,221
0
0
But an outspoken group of ethics lawyers say allowing foreign diplomats to curry favor with Trump by using his hotels would defeat the entire purpose of the emoluments clause.
Eisen has teamed up with former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter under President George W. Bush, along with Harvard Law School professor Laurence H. Tribe, to argue that the emoluments clause "covers even ordinary, fair market value transactions that result in any economic profit or benefit" to the President.
In other words: "Trump can't receive any direct payment of any kind from a foreign government, including a fee for services," agrees Harvard Law School professor Noah Feldman.

"Elected government officials are barred from receiving any benefit under the lease, and now that Mr. Trump has been sworn in today as President of the United States, Trump Old Post Office LLC, a company he largely owns, is in violation of the lease's conflicts-of-interest provision," wrote the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in a letter to the GSA.
"This is bad as it gets," said Norm Eisen, who served as a chief White House ethics lawyer in the Obama administration.
 

CAJUNEER_rivals

Redshirt
May 29, 2001
72,872
44
0
She/he whatever, was referencing that they were from the Obama administration and thus part of the international liberal conspiracy to destroy American values
In how many threads do you need put in your place? Do you think going to a different thread will change the result?
 

WVMade

Redshirt
Aug 23, 2016
1,221
0
0
She/he whatever, was referencing that they were from the Obama administration and thus part of the international liberal conspiracy to destroy American values
Oh, now it's clear. The Framers of the Constitution were " part of the international liberal conspiracy to destroy American values". Now we know why Trump and his cult spit on it every chance they get. The whole Putin love fest makes more sense now too. Nice.
 

WVMade

Redshirt
Aug 23, 2016
1,221
0
0
Foreign interference in the American political system was among the gravest dangers feared by the Founders of our nation and the framers of our Constitution. The United States was a new government, and one that was vulnerable to manipulation by the great and wealthy world powers (which then, as now, included Russia). One common tactic that foreign sovereigns, and their agents, used to influence our officials was to give them gifts, money, and other things of value. In response to this practice, and the self-evident threat it represents, the framers included in the Constitution the Emoluments Clause of Article I, Section 9. It prohibits any “Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States]” from accepting “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” Only explicit congressional consent validates such exchanges.


While much has changed since 1789, certain premises of politics and human nature have held steady. One of those truths is that private financial interests can subtly sway even the most virtuous leaders. As careful students of history, the Framers were painfully aware that entanglements between American officials and foreign powers could pose a creeping, insidious risk to the Republic. The Emoluments Clause was forged of their hard-won wisdom. It is no relic of a bygone era, but rather an expression of insight into the nature of the human condition and the preconditions of self-governance.


Now in 2016, when there is overwhelming evidence that a foreign power has indeed meddled in our political system, adherence to the strict prohibition on foreign government presents and emoluments “of any kind whatever” is even more important for our national security and independence.


Never in American history has a president-elect presented more conflict of interest questions and foreign entanglements than Donald Trump. Given the vast and global scope of Trump’s business interests, many of which remain shrouded in secrecy, we cannot predict the full gamut of legal and constitutional challenges that lie ahead. But one violation, of constitutional magnitude, will run from the instant that Mr. Trump swears he will “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” While holding office, Mr. Trump will receive—by virtue of his continued interest in the Trump Organization and his stake in hundreds of other entities—a steady stream of monetary and other benefits from foreign powers and their agents.


In the attached brief, we examine the Emoluments Clause in detail and conclude that Donald Trump’s diverse dealings violate both the spirit and the letter of this critical piece of the U.S. Constitution.


Download “The Emoluments Clause: Its text, meaning, and application to Donald J. Trump.”

https://www.brookings.edu/research/...xt-meaning-and-application-to-donald-j-trump/
 

wvu2007

Senior
Jan 2, 2013
21,220
457
0
 

WVMade

Redshirt
Aug 23, 2016
1,221
0
0
Say's a lot that a discussion on the Constitution gets only two reactions from Trumpets. A claim that the Farmers were an "international liberal conspiracy to destroy American values" , and an anti-Hillary meme. 'Murica. Your stupid is showing Trumpets.
 

wvu2007

Senior
Jan 2, 2013
21,220
457
0
Say's a lot that a discussion on the Constitution gets only two reactions from Trumpets. A claim that the Farmers were an "international liberal conspiracy to destroy American values" , and an anti-Hillary meme. 'Murica. Your stupid is showing Trumpets.