Trump poised to violate Constitution his first day in office, George W. Bush's ethics lawyer says
Source: ThinkProgress
Friday evening, the Washington Post reported that about 100 foreign diplomats gathered at President-elect Donald Trumps hotel in Washington, DC to to sip Trump-branded champagne, dine on sliders and hear a sales pitch about the U.S. president-elects newest hotel. The tour included a look at the hotels $20,000 a night town house suite. The Post also quoted some of the diplomats saying they intended to stay at the hotel in order to ingratiate themselves to the incoming president.
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In an exclusive exchange with ThinkProgress, Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who previously served as chief ethics counsel to President George W. Bush, says that Trumps efforts to do business with these diplomats is at odds with a provision of the Constitution intended to prevent foreign states from effectively buying influence with federal officials.
The Constitutions Emoluments Clause, provides that 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.
The diplomats efforts in seek Trumps favor by staying in his hotel looks like a gift, Painter told ThinkProgress in an email, and thus is the very kind of favor the Constitution seeks to prevent.
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Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/trump-poised-to-violate-constitution-his-first-day-in-office-george-w-bushs-ethics-lawyer-says-73e14789a935#.obh62qro7
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)He needs to he held accountable for his actions and words.
Martin Eden
(12,870 posts)(unless the Republican-controlled Congress sees a chance to supplant Trump with Pence)
rurallib
(62,423 posts)to keep up on atrocities
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Kablooie
(18,634 posts)He will be impeachment proof 100% because there's no way in hell the Republican House will ever impeach him.
They will allow him total powers of a dictator, completely ignoring the Constitution, because to do otherwise would jeopardize any Republican's re-election, not to mention to suffer the retaliation that Trump would exert.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)before and we can be again.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)his "blind trust" protects him
Meanwhile, "Hillary for Jail" is a top priority
JudyM
(29,251 posts)stopbush
(24,396 posts)all the better.
The R Congress and courts will do nothing to stop him, because as a minority party ruling over a majority that disagrees with them on just about everything, they know that breaking the law only benefits them.
Initech
(100,081 posts)What's the vacancy count on the lowe courts? How many seats were not filled in the last 8 years? Very scary.
SunSeeker
(51,574 posts)mopinko
(70,127 posts)one wall that cheeto sporkhands is not ready to build, and wouldnt honor anyway.
he cannot unknow his assets. he cannot be blind to skyscrapers. there is no executer on the planet that can hide the workings of the world from the president of the united states.
it just cant, legally, be done.
rzemanfl
(29,565 posts)We live in a kleptocracy, so tough beans. I will reconsider if you PM me the copyright.
mopinko
(70,127 posts)might have been one of the colorful tweets from the uk- scotland?
rzemanfl
(29,565 posts)Being thieves and all....
elleng
(130,974 posts)intended to prevent foreign states from effectively buying influence with federal officials.'
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,735 posts)Every day there will be another opportunity for him to use the Constitution as toilet paper.
0rganism
(23,957 posts)the violations and outright lawbreaking are going to come fast and furious, probably more than 2 or 3 per day, and after a couple months of boring pseudo-hysterical media coverage, it will just become the "new normal". there needs to be some kind of compilation, a record that filters out the trivial bullshit from the truly illegal, and publishes commentary on the worst of these crimes frequently, but not daily.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,735 posts)with the result that we accept all this shit as normal. It's coming so fast and heavy right now that I'm afraid that's just what will happen, and then we're really in trouble.
It's daily for me....and sometimes hourly!
0rganism
(23,957 posts)i don't know about you, but i can't really focus on various aspects of each stinker dropped by His Donaldness, and he's not even the president yet. there's no way our ADHD media can grasp, let alone convey understanding of, all these scandals as they occur: they'll end up chasing their tails. that may even be part of his strategy: do so much annoying crap that the real crimes can float by along with far-too-numerous instances of shameful and repulsive behavior.
to the extent a chronicle of his misdeeds is to have any value, there must be extended analysis of the most egregious of the Trump administration's actions, along with simple enumeration of more minor failures and general foolishness.
otherwise... "Squirrel!"
moonscape
(4,673 posts)even what is vaguely legal.
napi21
(45,806 posts)of trouble. Of course, with all the law suits he's involved in, maybe THEY CAN'T convince him that there are things he CANNOT DO! TTheir job will be to make the trouble he gets in go away.
moonscape
(4,673 posts)NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)I thought Dubya was bad when he said it was "just a piece of paper" (or words to that effect).
geomon666
(7,512 posts)Emails
rzemanfl
(29,565 posts)Imagine that.
Sunny05
(865 posts)and more reason to call House Oversight Committee and your senators & reps, whether or not you think difference will be made. Worth trying, esp. if enough people call and pressure. Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 violation.
2naSalit
(86,647 posts)grievous changes to the Constitution in the very near future.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)DFW
(54,407 posts)While head of the House Judiciary Committee that led the impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying about adultery, it was revealed that pious Catholic Henry Hyde had been involved in an extra-marital affair of his own earlier.
Hyde said his affair was different, and chalked it up to "youthful indiscretions." The Inquisition, er, I mean, impeachment continued as if nothing in he way of hypocrisy had occurred.
Since Republicans will be running the show, and the one god any of them truly worships is money, I'm sure Trump could sell condos in the Trump Tower from a special Trump Real Estate office in the West Wing, and have a rack with brochures in the Oval Office. The Republican Congress wouldn't do a thing, and no one who voted for him would see anything wrong with it. Fox Noise would explain the legality of it all, get plenty of advertising revenue from Trump in return, and prosecution would be "off the table" when the next Democratic Congress takes office.
StatGirl
(518 posts)It's listed in the Constitution along with treason and "high crimes and misdemeanors".
kebob
(499 posts)We are so fucked!
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)greymattermom
(5,754 posts)can he have an army of private lawyers to defend him against acts that are unconstitutional? How does that even work?
wordpix
(18,652 posts)I think Pres O should appoint his man.
Ligyron
(7,633 posts)I'm burying dozens of eggs now in the hot FL sand so they'll be good and ready.
Tomatoes haven't sprouted yet but they'll be ripe by then too.
I promise.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)the Capitol, Nat'l Mall or back to the Wash Monument with all the crazies who will crowd in there