Slate - "Trump's News Conference was an Informercial"
Do You Want to Receive Emoluments? Sure, We All Do
Trump’s press conference was an infomercial.
By Jamelle Bouie
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/01/trump_s_press_conference_was_an_infomercial.html
There is no question that Donald Trump will assume the presidency in a tangle of business relationships and conflicts of interest. Many stem from his appointment power and its intersection with his personal financial interests. Trump is on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in loans but will have a chance to influence interest-rate policy through his selection of the Treasury secretary. He’s under audit from the Internal Revenue Service but will have a chance to influence the bureau by picking its new chief. And so on, and so on.
But these are almost minor compared with one particular conflict of interest that has constitutional consequences. Because of his ownership of the Trump Organization, the president-elect stands to reap a steady stream of benefits from foreign governments, a violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which forbids the president from accepting gifts or payments from foreign leaders. Or, as legal scholars Norman Eisen, Richard Painter, and Laurence Tribe wrote in a December report for the Brookings Institute:
Wholly apart from any actual quid pro quo arrangements or demonstrable bribes or payoffs, the Emoluments Clause will be violated whenever a foreign diplomat stays in a Trump hotel or hosts a reception in one; whenever foreign-owned banks offer loans to Mr. Trump’s businesses or pay rent for office space in his buildings; whenever projects are jump-started or expedited or licensed or otherwise advantaged because Mr. Trump is associated with them; whenever foreign prosecutors and regulators treat a Trump entity favorably; and whenever the Trump Organization makes a profit on a business transaction with any foreign state or foreign-owned entity.
The only way for Trump to avoid this is divestment from the Trump Organization and liquidation of its assets, which can then be placed under a “blind” trust managed independently of the Trump family.
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