Why Trump's inauguration money is a major part of Mueller's Russia investigation

[Snellius]

Source: Vox

Russia-tied donations and oligarch connections have drawn Mueller’s interest.

What happened at Donald Trump’s inauguration 18 months ago, and why does special counsel Robert Mueller appear to be so interested in it?

Last week, ABC News’s Matthew Mosk and John Santucci reported that several wealthy Russians were “granted unusual access” to Trump inauguration parties back in January 2017 — and that Mueller was seeking to find out why.
...
Trump’s inauguration raised an incredible amount of money
In the end, the inauguration crowd wasn’t exactly the largest in history — but the inaugural fundraising certainly was. Barrack, Gates, and the team raked in over $106 million, an astonishing sum that doubled the previous record (set by Obama in 2009).

https://www.vox.com/2018/7/5/17505728/trump-inauguration-mueller-russians-rick-gates

[exboyfil]

1. Can we say emoluments?

I knew we could say that. The Founding Fathers must have thought it was pretty damn important to put it into the Constitution. How about it originalists?

[unblock]

2. In this case i think it's bribery that's the problem

The constitution prohibits emoluments but doesn't specify say how to resolve violations. I don't know if there's a federal law against it. My guess is not, at least not that applies to the potus.

It's conceivable that no one has standing to bring an emoluments case. And it's also possible that the resolution is merely to forfeit the money.


Bribery, on the other hand, is a federal crime and mentioned in the constitution as grounds for impeachment. It's not clear they have hard proof of all the elements, but given the amount of money, there really isn't any other logical explanation.

[lagomorph777]

4. Yup. Emoluments literally from hour one of the Turd Adminstration.

[Gothmog]

3. There is a great deal of money that has not been accounted for