Tag: Trump abuse of power

A few Republican cracks on impeachment are showing

Washington Post logoThe initial revelations about the whistleblower complaint and transcript of President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s president made it difficult for Republicans to defend Trump. Now, after a month of actions by the White House that seemed designed to test the limits of their willingness to go along, the cracks in Republicans’ tenuous defense are starting to show.

Here’s one of Trump’s most vocal defenders in the Senate, a lawmaker known for bending or ignoring the facts to back up Trump, opening the door to impeachment of the president:

“Sure. I mean … show me something that … is a crime,” said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) to Axios on HBO in an interview on Tuesday. “If you could show me that, you know, Trump actually was engaging in a quid pro quo, outside the phone call, that would be very disturbing.”

View the complete October 21 article by Amber Phillips on The Washington Post website here.

Diplomats describe all-time low in morale at State under Trump

The Hill logoThe Trump administration’s perennial push for steep budget cuts, an exodus of senior staffers with decades of experience and constant allegations that agency employees represent a deep state has sent morale at the State Department to an unprecedented low.

On top of that, President Trump has fired a senior diplomat after a whisper campaign mounted by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and abandoned steadfast allies in the Middle East to fend for themselves on the battlefield at the behest of Turkey’s government.

Current and former diplomats say the weight of those events is taking a startling and measurable toll on American foreign relations, and on their ability to carry out policy set by the White House.

View the complete October 21 article by Reid Wilson on The Hill website here.

Mick Mulvaney Struggles to Explain Comments on Ukraine

New York Times logoWASHINGTON — Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, tried again on Sunday to back off assertions he made to reporters last week that the Trump administration had held up an aid package to Ukraine because the president wanted the country to investigate Democrats, acknowledging he did not have a “perfect press conference.”

During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Mulvaney disagreed with an assertion by the show’s anchor, Chris Wallace, that Mr. Mulvaney’s remarks were proof of a quid pro quo, an exchange the president has publicly denied for weeks. But he struggled to explain how his comments Sunday were not at odds with what he said last week.

“That’s what people are saying that I said, but I didn’t say that,” Mr. Mulvaney said, adding that he had outlined “two reasons” for withholding the aid to Ukraine in a news briefing with reporters on Thursday. In the briefing, however, he outlined three reasons: the corruption in the country, whether other countries were also giving aid to Ukraine and whether Ukrainian officials were cooperating in a Justice Department investigation.

View the complete October 20 article by Katie Rogers and Emily Cochrane on The New York Times website here.

Why Trump can’t change, no matter what the consequences are

Washington Post logoPersonal growth is about seeing more. The president is too self-absorbed for that.

In April 2016, on the verge of securing the Republican nomination for president, Donald Trump announced that his “campaign is evolving and transitioning, and so am I.” At a rally around the same time, he told supporters that “at some point, I’m going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored,” but “I just don’t know that I wanted to do it quite yet.”

When Trump was elected, some critics held out hope that he would grow in office, as other presidents have. No one believes that’s possible anymore. After Mick Mulvaney took over as Trump’s third chief of staff last December, he let it be known that his approach would be to “let Trump be Trump.” Mulvaney was simply succumbing to reality. As Trump himself has said, he is essentially the same person today that he was at age 7. He has his story, and he’s sticking to it.

Growth and development are about seeing more. The wider, deeper and longer our perspective, the more variables we can consider — and the more capable we become. Likewise, the more responsibility we take for our behaviors, and the less we blame others for our shortcomings, the more power we have to influence our destiny.

View the complete October 18 article by Ton Schwartz on The Washington Post website here.

Mulvaney faced White House ouster threat before impeachment crisis took over

WASHINGTON  (CNN) — Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney faced internal efforts to oust him before House Democrats moved ahead with their impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, multiple sources tell CNN.

Top aides including Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner were in the process of reaching out to at least two potential replacements for the top West Wing job shortly before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in late September that she would move ahead with an impeachment inquiry.

These previously unreported efforts did not come to fruition, but underscore the weakness of Mulvaney’s position even before his headline-generating performance in the briefing room last week. One person familiar with Mulvaney’s thinking said the search came as Mulvaney himself was looking for an exit after 10 months in the role, though people close to Mulvaney have denied he wanted to leave.

View the complete October 20 article by Kaitlin Collins, Dana Bash, Jim Acosta and Gloria Borger on the CNN website here.

Internet piles on ‘humiliated’ Trump for whining about pulling G7 summit from his golf resort

AlterNet logoLate Saturday Donald Trump took to Twitter to announce that he was no longer going to be holding next year’s G7 at his Doral golf resort, whining about pressure that he claims came from Democrats and the media.

As Trump sees it, “Therefore, based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020. We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately. Thank you!”

Reaction to Trump’s capitulation was swift and harsh, with one Twitter commenter pointing out, “Once again, the Sociopath-in-Chief is embarrassed and humiliated into backpedaling away from yet another moronic, corrupt decision.”

View the complete October 20 article by Tom Boggioni from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump says his Doral resort will no longer host G-7 after backlash

The Hill logoPresident Trump on Saturday said he would no longer host next year’s Group of Seven (G-7) summit at his Doral resort after intense backlash from Democrats, ethics watchdogs and some Republican lawmakers.

The reversal came two days after the White House announced that Trump National Doral near Miami would host the gathering of world leaders next June. The decision was widely panned by critics who viewed it as a brazen move for the president to enrich his family brand.

Trump tweeted Sunday night, “Thought I was doing something very good for our Country by using Trump National Doral, in Miami, for hosting the G-7 Leaders,” boasting of the property’s proximity to major airports and its physical spaces.

View the complete October 19 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

White House staggers after tumultuous 48 hours

The Hill logoThe White House is slumping into the weekend after one of the most difficult 48-hour periods in President Trump’s tumultuous term of office.

Wednesday and Thursday produced a slew of damaging headlines for an administration battling an impeachment push by Democrats and a revolt by Republicans over the president’s handling of foreign affairs.

If all that wasn’t enough, the White House also announced long-anticipated plans to hold the next Group of Seven (G-7) summit at a Trump-branded property in Miami, dismissing criticism that doing so would raise emoluments issues.

View the complete October 19 article by Morgan Chalfant and Brett Samuels in The Hill website here.

The Text and History of the Foreign Emoluments Clause

NOTE:  This is the second post regarding the U.S. Constitution’s emolluments clausees.  This post discusses the foreign emolluments clause regarding accepting anything of value from a foreign government.

America’s Founders believed that corruption and foreign influence were among the gravest threats to our nation. As a result, they included in our Constitution the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Written in sweeping and unqualified language, the Clause was designed to prevent these two evils from affecting the federal government. This document explores the text and history of the Clause, providing statements from the Founders themselves and the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel,which among other things provides “legal advice to the Executive Branch on all constitutional questions.”1

Text of the Foreign Emoluments Clause, U.S. Const. art. I, § 9, cl. 8.

“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.” Continue reading “The Text and History of the Foreign Emoluments Clause”

The Domestic Emoluments Clause: Its Text, Meaning, and Application to Donald J. Trump

NOTE:  With Donald Trump’s abuse of power with the President of Ukraine and attempt to hold the 2020 G-7 at his personal property in Florida, we wanted to provide you with information on the U.S. Constitution’s emolluments clauses.  This is post covers the domestic emolluments clause. Our next post will cover the foreign emolluments clause.

Donald J. Trump’s decision to assume the presidency without separating from his businesses has undermined vital protections in our Constitution meant to ensure that the President does not put his personal interests above the interests of the nation and subvert our constitutional system. Among those critical protections is the Domestic Emoluments Clause, which bars the President from receiving benefits other than his compensation from the federal, state, or local governments.

In Brief

The Founders were deeply troubled by the possibility that federal or state officials would compromise the President’s independence and gain his loyalty by giving him financial benefits, and they worried that the President might use the powers of his office to enrich himself.

The Founders adopted a broad and absolute prohibition on the President receiving “Emolument[s],” beyond his fixed compensation, from the federal or state governments.

View the complete post by Brianne J. Gorod, Brian R. Frazell and Samuel Houshower on the Constitutional Accountability Center website here.