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.

Fox News reporter stunned by Trump’s ‘unnecessary’ decision to hold the 2020 G-7 at his own property: ‘The world is on fire’

AlterNet logoFox News journalist Chris Stirewalt on Thursday appeared stunned by Donald Trump’s decision to host the 2020 G-7 meeting at his Doral resort in Miami, FL, describing the decision as “an unnecessary problem to create for himself.”

Stirewalt spoke with host Harris Faulkner after the president’s Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters the the next G7 summit will be held at a Trump property.

“I got to tell you, the idea that this administration, dealing with what this administration is dealing with, right? A lot. You’ve for the unraveling in Syria, you’ve got the march toward Trump impeachment here at home, breaking news story every day,” Stirewalt began. “The world is on fire.”

View the complete October 17 article by Elizabeth Preza on the AlterNet website here.

A Show of Contempt

Trump and his aides ignore subpoenas in an effort to marginalize Congress.

They ignore congressional subpoenas and refuse to testify before Capitol Hill committees. When they do show up, their disdain is obvious, as they berate and belittle elected representatives. President Donald Trump himself lobs insulting nicknames at Democratic lawmakers, and declared outright that he no longer considers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, second in line to take Trump’s job, to be the speaker.

Never mind contempt of Congress, a sanction being weighed for members of the Trump administration who refuse to cooperate with House inquiries. Now, the White House and its supporters have turned the tables, brazenly displaying a contempt for Congress. It’s an approach that not only frustrates Congress’ efforts to serve as a check and balance to the executive branch, but marginalizes the authority of the legislative branch with the American people, analysts say.

“They’re trying to delegitimize the House of Representatives. They’re trying to delegitimize our most democratic branch,” says law professor Victoria Nourse, who worked on the Senate Iran-Contra Committee and is now executive director Georgetown Law’s Center on Congressional Studies.

View the complete October 4 article by Susan Milligan on The U.S. News and World Report website here.

Scoop: Trump letter dares Pelosi to hold vote on impeachment inquiry

Axios logoThe White House is planning to send Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter as soon as Friday arguing that President Trump and his team can ignore lawmakers’ demands until she holds a full House vote formally approving an impeachment inquiry, 2 sources familiar with the letter tell Axios.

Why it matters: By putting in writing the case that Trump and his supporters have been making verbally for days, the White House is preparing for a court fight and arguing to the public that its resistance to Congress’ requests is justified.

  • Trump wants to force House Democrats in vulnerable races to be on the record if they favor pursuing impeachment, these sources tell us.
  • Republicans also say the minority party can exert more influence over hearings and other aspects of an inquiry once it is formalized with a vote.
  • By calling this an inquiry without holding a vote, Pelosi and the Democratic committee chairmen are having it both ways, one official said. “They want to be a little bit pregnant.”

View the complete October 3 article by Alayna Treene and Margaret Talev on the Axios website here.

‘Unconscionable’: 300 National Security Experts Back Impeachment Inquiry

Donald Trump’s behavior with the president of Ukraine was so alarming that more than 300 former national security professionals have signed a public statement condemning his actions and applauding the House for opening an impeachment inquiry into the matter.

The statement, spearheaded by National Security Action and released Friday morning, garnered the support of many former federal officials who worked for both Republican and Democratic administrations. And the group expects even more signatures to be added on Friday afternoon.

“President Trump appears to have leveraged the authority and resources of the highest office in the land to invite additional foreign interference into our democratic processes,” the letter states. “That would constitute an unconscionable abuse of power. It also would represent an effort to subordinate America’s national interests — and those of our closest allies and partners — to the President’s personal political interest.”

View the complete September 27 article by Dan Desai Martin on the National Memo website here.

Federal appeals court reinstates Trump emoluments case

Axios logoThe Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated Friday a lawsuit that accused President Trump of violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause, per Bloomberg.

Why it matters: The decision dredges up one of the president’s most persistent ongoing legal threats. It’s a high-level ruling for such a case and could force the president to defend himself in court because only an expanded version of the Second Circuit or the Supreme Court could overturn the decision.

  • The case was originally brought by Trump’s business rivals in New York, but was dismissed by a lower-level federal judge in December 2017.

The big picture: This isn’t the only emoluments-linked case that the president has faced.

View the complete September 13 article on the Axios website here.

Oversight Committee Will Probe Pence Stay At Trump’’s Irish Resort

Mike Pence’s decision this week to stay at a Trump resort in Ireland nearly 200 miles away from where he was having meetings has triggered a congressional investigation.

The use of Trump’s properties helps to enrich Trump because he has not divested of his business holdings while serving in the presidency.

“The Committee does not believe that U.S. taxpayer funds should be used to personally enrich President Trump, his family, and his companies,” House Oversight Chair Elijah Cummings said in a statement released Friday.

View the complete September 8 article by Oliver Willis on the National Memo website here.

Trump bashes media after lackluster August jobs report

The Hill logoPresident Trump lashed out Friday at the news media after the release of an underwhelming August jobs report, accusing journalists of stoking anxiety about a potential recession.

“The Economy is great. The only thing adding to ‘uncertainty’ is the Fake News!” Trump tweeted Friday, hours after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released an August jobs report that fell below expectations.

The U.S. economy added 130,000 jobs in August, 25,000 of which were hires for short-term positions to conduct the 2020 U.S. census. While the unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.7 percent, the August jobs gains were well below economists’ estimates of 145,000 to 160,000 new hires.

The August jobs report was the latest sign that the growth of the U.S. economy is beginning to slow after more than a decade of consistent expansion. Economists say that while the country is adding enough jobs to stave off a recession for now, a broader global slowdown poses severe risks for the U.S.

View the complete September 6 article by Sylvan Lane on The Hill website here.

Trump encouraged Pence to stay at his golf resort in Ireland

Vice President Pence arrived Monday in Ireland with an unusual itinerary: He would attend meetings with Irish leaders in Dublin during the day Tuesday — but spend two nights on the opposite side of the country, at a golf club owned by President Trump.

Pence spent both Monday and Tuesday nights at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, in a small town on Ireland’s southwest coast, returning to the village after meetings with Ireland’s top elected officials.

Pence defended that decision — which required him to fly to Dublin and back on Air Force Two — by saying that he wanted to visit Doonbeg so that he could have dinner with his family at Morrissey’s, a pub here owned by a distant cousin.

View the complete September 3 article by Robert Costa, David A. Fahrenthold and John Wagner on The Washington Post website here.

Trump says Miami will probably host next year’s G-7 summit — at his own Doral resort

Greater Miami is likely to host next year’s G-7 summit of world leaders — and President Donald Trump now says his own Doral resort is a good bet to be the home site.

Speaking to reporters from France, which is hosting the ongoing Group of 7 summit, Trump acknowledged for the first time Monday morning that he may select his flagship property for the annual gathering of the world’s most powerful people.

The White House later tweeted a video of Trump praising his Miami-area hotel during a subsequent press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, writing “President @realDonaldTrump shares the location of the next @G7 summit, hosted by the United States!”

View the complete August 26 article by David Smiley on The Miami Herald website here.