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President-elect Trump explains why his sons will run the Trump family business while he occupies the White House.
President-elect Donald Trump’s lawyer addressed concerns at his __news conference over his business empire and potential violations of the Constitution’s “Emoluments Clause.”
The clause is an anti-bribery provision that forbids any U.S. president from receiving gifts from foreign leaders and is derived from the Latin word “emolumentum,” meaning “profit” or “gain.”
The Emoluments Clause is Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution. 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.”
The clause is relevant because Trump is the first U.S. president with a sprawling global business empire. The most immediate concern has been foreign diplomats booking hotels and conference rooms at Trump hotel properties in order to curry favor with him. According to Trump’s lawyer, who briefed reporters, he has decided to donate the proceeds from such stays to the U.S. Treasury as a precaution.
Yet, according to bipartisan ethics lawyers and constitutional scholars, hotel stays are just one of a number of ways foreign governments could seek to curry favor with the new president. For instance, a loan from the Bank of China on one of Trump’s Manhattan office buildings could qualify as an emolument, according to former White House ethics lawyers Richard Painter and Norm Eisen, who’ve been urging him to divest. Other examples include foreign government building permits, tax breaks and subsidies and even attempts to choke off would-be competitors. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board has called on Trump to divest.
Trump has at least 28 foreign properties and partnerships that could generate money from foreign officials and trigger a violation of the Emoluments Clause, according to a USA TODAY analysis of financial disclosure forms. Beyond those 28 foreign properties are a series of other deals that could expand that list of potential sources of foreign income.
"The decision President-elect Trump has made today creates a completely untenable situation," Fred Wertheimer, president of government watchdog group Democracy 21, said in a statement following his __news conference. "President-elect Trump’s actions reflect placing a priority on his personal business interests at the expense of the integrity of his presidency and the interests of the American people," he said.
"Benefits provided by foreign governments or private interests to Trump business ventures and problems that arise with Trump businesses will be benefits and problems that directly involve the president of the United States," Wertheimer said.
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