25 June, 2017
Norman Eisen, former chief White House ethics lawyer, said jurisdictions such as these are among the "most flawless plaintiffs" to impeach Trump over the finances spent lately because both attorneys share the same view, insisting on law enforcement.
The attorneys general for Maryland and Washington D.C. filed a lawsuit Monday against President Donald Trump, alleging that he violated the Constitution's anti-corruption clauses by accepting payments from foreign governments since taking office. In January, Trump declared he was shifting his business assets into a trust that his sons would manage in order to do away with possible conflicts of interests. Since then, his son, Eric Trump, has said there will be regular meetings with President Trump to update him on how the businesses are doing.
Trump himself has called the earlier lawsuit about the emoluments issue "without merit, totally without merit".
District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced the suit at a news conference in Washington. He continues to seek - and in fact recently obtained from China - valuable trademarks from foreign countries for his business ventures.
Constitutional scholars debate whether or not the Emoluments Clause applies to the president, or to businesses owned by him.
A similar suit was filed in a NY federal court in January by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a public-interest group. That fight would most likely end up before the Supreme Court, the two said, with Trump's attorneys having to defend why the returns should remain private.
Attorney General Racine emphasized that the United States is a nation of law and no one including the President is above the law.
The lawsuits contend that Mr. Trump violates the "emoluments" clause by receiving economic benefits from owning a company that rents rooms and spaces to foreign governments in NY and the District of Columbia.
"If the Justice Department is correct, the emoluments clause has no meaning whatsoever", said Frosh, the Maryland official.
The suit says that Maryland and D.C. are now being forced to either give the Trump Organization special treatment or refuse and watch other states that do give it special treatment profit.
The Justice Department last Friday argued that those plaintiffs lack the legal standing to sue because they can not allege enough specific harm caused by Mr Trump's businesses.
Examples of alleged violations of the Emoluments Clause include, according to the plaintiffs, "leases of Trump properties held by foreign-government-owned entities; purchase and ownership of condominiums in Trump properties by foreign governments or foreign government controlled entities; [and] other property interests or business dealings tied to foreign governments".
Lobbyists, foreign diplomats and others who might wish to curry favor with Trump have been frequenting the Trump hotel, which is unfair, the argument goes.
They accuse Trump of improperly accepting payments from foreign governments. Also, both the D.C. and Maryland citizens are unfavorably being distressed by presence of Trump's hotel adjacent to White House. It will also ask for access to Trump's personal tax returns as part of the legal process known as discovery, the person said.
