Tag: Trump abuse of the U.S. Constitution

Congressional Democrats’ emoluments lawsuit targeting President Trump’s private business can proceed, judge says

Democrats in Congress can move ahead with their lawsuit against President Trump alleging that his private business violates the Constitution’s ban on gifts or payments from foreign governments, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

The decision in Washington from U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan adopted a broad definition of the anti-corruption law and could set the stage for Democratic lawmakers to begin seeking information from the Trump Organization. The Justice Department can try to delay or block the process by asking an appeals court to intervene.

In a 48-page opinion, the judge refused the request of the president’s legal team to dismiss the case and rejected Trump’s narrow definition of emoluments, finding it “unpersuasive and inconsistent.”

View the complete April 30 article by Jonathan O’Connell, Ann E. Marimow and Carol D. Leonnig on The Washington Post website here.

Federal judge rejects Trump request to dismiss Democrats’ Emoluments Clause lawsuit

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected President Trump’s request to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Trump has violated the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the more than 200 Democratic senators and members of Congress behind the lawsuit had reason to seek an injunction in the case and that their request is constitutional.

In his ruling, Sullivan found that Trump had disregarded “the ordinary meaning” of the term “emolument” as intended in the Constitution by claiming that it should apply only to profits he earns directly through his own work.

View the complete April 30 article by Jacqueline Thomsen on The Hill website here.

Trump Needs A Lesson In Constitutional Government

Why His Effort to Defy Congress Is Unlikely to End How He Wants

Donald Trump thinks that he can thumb his nose at Congress because the federal courts will protect him. But that’s not the way our Constitution works. It’s also not the way the courts have held in cases going to the early days of our Constitution.

But since tens of millions of Americans take Trump’s words as gospel, let’s look at the facts, starting with Trump’s blanket declaration of noncooperation with House inquiries.

“There is no reason to go any further, and especially in Congress where it’s very partisan — obviously very partisan,” Trump told The Washington Post Tuesday night in declaring that cooperating with House investigations is not going to happen.

View the complete April 26 article by David Cay Johnston on the DCReport.org website here.

Trump rails against political elites on Washington media’s big night

President Trump railed against the political and social elites at a campaign rally in Wisconsin on Saturday night as members of the press gathered in Washington for the White House correspondents’ dinner.

Trump cast the news media, Democrats and Washington insiders as out of touch with ordinary Americans and made the case that his administration’s policies have benefited working-class voters in the Midwest states that will be pivotal in determining the outcome of the 2020 election.

“There’s no place I’d rather be than right here in America’s heartland,” Trump said in a 90-minute speech at a packed arena in Green Bay. “And there’s no one I’d rather be with than you, the hardworking patriots who make our country run so well.”

View the complete April 27 article by Jonathan Easley on The Hill website here.

Trump says he would challenge impeachment in Supreme Court

President Trump on Wednesday said that he would attempt to challenge impeachment in the Supreme Court if Democrats carried out such proceedings, though it’s unclear the high court would hear such a case.

“The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG,” Trump tweeted.

“If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only are there no ‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors,’ there are no Crimes by me at all,” he continued.

View the complete April 24 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Treasury misses second Dem deadline on Trump tax returns

The Treasury Department on Tuesday missed a second deadline from House Democrats to provide President Trump’s tax returns.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a letter that the department can’t act on the request “unless and until it is determined to be consistent with law.”

He said that he expects Treasury to provide the House Ways and Means Committee with a final decision by May 6 after receiving legal conclusions from the Department of Justice.

View the complete April 23 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website he

Trump attacks Paul Krugman after NYT columnist publishes scathing column on death of GOP

President Donald Trump on Tuesday inadvertently called attention to a scathing New York Times column written by Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman.

In an angry tweet, Trump wrote that “Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me.” Trump also wrote that Krugman “is obsessed with hatred, just as others are obsessed with how stupid he is.”

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

Paul Krugman, of the Fake News New York Times, has lost all credibility, as has the Times itself, with his false and highly inaccurate writings on me. He is obsessed with hatred, just as others are obsessed with how stupid he is. He said Market would crash, Only Record Highs!

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In his latest column, Krugman argued that the Republican Party has shown it is completely devoid of ethics and only wants to hold and maintain power.

View the complete April 23 article by Brad Reed with Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Trump attacks media, says N.Y. Times should ‘beg for forgiveness’

After relative silence post-Mueller report, president explodes with two-hour Twitter rant

After days of media coverage describing the White House portrayed in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report as rife with dysfunction and ignored presidential orders, Donald Trump on Tuesday lambasted those who cover him.

He even suggested one of his top media targets, The New York Times, should “get down on their knees & beg for forgiveness.”

In one of his most explosive morning Twitter rants in months, the president went on an extended diatribe against the media that included mocking CNN and other outlets, and renewing his charge that MSNBC morning show host Joe Scarborough, a former GOP House member from Florida, is “psycho.”

View the complete April 23 article by John T. Bennett on The Roll Call website here.

Trump learns to love acting officials

President Trump is increasingly relying on officials in high-level government positions to serve in an acting capacity, a strategy he appears comfortable taking as he escalates plans to implement his immigration policies and broader agenda.

The president argues that having Cabinet members and others serve his administration in an acting capacity is better than having people confirmed by the Senate.

“I like acting because I can move so quickly. It gives me more flexibility,” Trump said in a February interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

View the complete April 14 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill website here.

Judges seem skeptical Trump is illegally profiting from his D.C. hotel

RICHMOND — A federal appeals court seemed skeptical Tuesday that President Trump is illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors at his luxury hotel in downtown Washington or that his financial gain comes at the expense of local competitors.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit was reviewing a novel case brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia involving anti-corruption provisions in the emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The once-obscure clauses were designed to prevent undue influence on government officials but have never been applied in court to a sitting president.

View the complete March 19 article by Ann E. Marimow and Jonathan O’Connell on The Washington Post website here.