Department of Justice Argues Trump can Accept Payments from Foreign Governments

DOJ Seeks to Have Suit Filed Against Trump Dismissed

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is arguing that Donald Trump isn’t violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution by allowing his hotels and other businesses to accept payments from foreign governments. 

The emoluments clause reads that “no Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, 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 DOJ’s argument comes in response to a lawsuit filed by ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) shortly after the president’s inauguration.

“The framers of the Constitution were students of history,” Deepak Gupta, one of the suit’s lawyers, said in January. “And they understood that one way a republic could fail is if foreign powers could corrupt our elected leaders.”

As The Hill reported, DOJ lawyers have sought to have the lawsuit thrown out, contending  “that the foreign emoluments clause doesn’t apply to ‘fair-market commercial transactions’ like payments for hotel rooms and golf club fees.’”

The DOJ further asserted that CREW, as well as other plaintiffs, “lack legal standing to bring the case against Trump,” citing that ‘Congress, not the court system, should determine whether Trump is in violation” of the clause our forefathers designed to protect the country.

“Neither the text nor the history of the Clauses shows that they were intended to reach benefits arising from a President’s private business pursuits having nothing to do with his office or personal service to a foreign power,” the DOJ contended in its 70-page legal brief.

According to NPR, the suit, which seeks no monetary damages, “cites numerous examples of how Trump personally stands to profit from doing business with companies linked to foreign governments,” including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, owned by the Chinese government.

Norman L. Eisen, CREW’s chairman, called the DOJ’s briefing “a remarkable assertion.”

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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license