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House Oversight Committee Democrats have launched an investigation into the gifts former President Trump received while he was in office, claiming he failed to account for thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts he received from foreign officials. According to the committee, the former president appears to have flouted laws that require turning over any gift deemed to be worth more than $415 — a longstanding practice based on the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which places limits on what the president can receive from foreign governments.

Peter Schweizer on Life, Liberty and Levin: "money that Hunter Biden connected overseas, directly benefited not only Hunter Biden, but Joe Biden himself"

The Supreme Court on Monday brought an end to lawsuits over whether Donald Trump illegally profited off his presidency. The justices threw out Trump’s challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed lawsuits to go forward alleging that he violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting payments from foreign and domestic officials who stay at the Trump International Hotel and patronize other businesses owned by the former president and his family. The high court also ordered the lower court rulings thrown out as well and directed appeals courts in New York and Richmond, Virginia, to dismiss the suits as moot...

The Supreme Court has refused to take up an emoluments case filed by Democrats back in 2017. That means the lower court ruling that Democrats do not have standing to bring the case will stand. This little corner of the resistance is dead: The Supreme Court on Tuesday put an end to a lawsuit brought by congressional Democrats that accused President Donald Trump of violating anti-corruption provisions in the U.S. Constitution with his business dealings.The justices refused to hear an appeal by 215 Senate and House of Representatives Democrats of a lower court ruling that found that the lawmakers...

Despite their roots in reality, there is no doubt that these crises -- and the White House and Senate's attempts to tackle them -- would be reported differently if Hillary Clinton were president. It took more than five years, but the corporate media finally have the tools and strategy to successfully defeat President Donald Trump.The corporate media have these, mind you, despite the Democratic Party, whose foibles, stumbles, and misfires over those same five years have only complicated efforts, kicking off with a disastrous 2016 defeat and eventually culminating in a near-invisible and increasingly senile presidential candidate stumbling through a...

Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council who testified in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, was “escorted out of the White House.” A federal appeals court dismissed one of several lawsuits against President Trump alleging he violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by illegally profiting from his presidency.

A federal appeals court in Washington threw out a lawsuit accusing President Trump of illegally profiting off his private businesses while in office, ruling that the Democratic lawmakers who brought the suit lack standing to bring the case. A three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday said in a 12-page decision that the dispute centering around the Constitution's emoluments clauses has no place in the court system. "The Members can, and likely will, continue to use their weighty voices to make their case to the American people, their colleagues in the Congress and the President himself,...

This is interesting on the merits but also interesting in that two of the most powerful platforms in right-wing media are promoting it.I suppose one could argue that Trump handing the G7 to his own business isn’t a textbook emolument since it doesn’t really function as a bribe, which is what the constitutional ban is all about. We don’t want the president receiving fat envelopes from foreign dignitaries for fear that that’ll influence his views on foreign policy. Imagine if, say, the president of Ukraine could curry favor with POTUS by telling him that he recently paid for the...

As Rudy Giuliani was pushing Ukrainian officials last spring to investigate one of Donald Trump’s main political rivals, a group of individuals with ties to the president and his personal lawyer were also active in the former Soviet republic. Their aims were profit, not politics. This circle of businessmen and Republican donors touted connections to Giuliani and Trump while trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine’s massive state gas company. Their plan was to then steer lucrative contracts to companies controlled by Trump allies, according to two people with knowledge of their plans. Their plan hit a...

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Maryland and D.C. alleging that President Trump is violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, finding that they did not have the standing to sue the president. The ruling is a major win for Trump, who has frequently sought to prevent others from reviewing his private financial records. Breaking.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday refused to put on hold a lawsuit by about 200 Democratic lawmakers accusing President Donald Trump of violating an anti-corruption provision of the U.S. Constitution with his private business dealings, a move that clears the way for them to seek some of his financial records. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected a request by Trump administration lawyers to halt the case and let them file an expedited appeal of key preliminary rulings he issued against the president. Sullivan said an immediate appeal would not be efficient. The lawsuit is one of two...

Full Title; 'You even want him fired from 'The Apprentice,' don't you?' Appeals court judge tears into anti-Trump lawyer for arguing the president can't own successful D.C. hotel while he's in office A federal appeals court on Tuesday grilled lawyers for the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia about their claims that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by accepting profits through foreign and domestic officials who stay at his Washington hotel. The three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed skepticism about claims in a lawsuit that alleges Trump is violating the emoluments...

A federal judge has rejected President Trump’s push to dismiss a lawsuit against him for allegedly violating the emoluments clause of the Constitution. U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte in Maryland shut down the Justice Department’s arguments to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the attorney generals in D.C and Maryland, according to court documents. Trump is accused of violating the clause, which prevents elected officials from receiving gifts or benefits from foreign governments without Congress’s approval. --This breaking news report will be updated.

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit alleging President Trump violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause because his hotels and golf courses continue to do business with foreign governments while he’s serving in office. U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels said the lawsuit was flawed from the start because the plaintiffs, led by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, lacked standing. Daniels, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, also said the matter should be taken before Congress, not the courts. “As the only political branch with the power to consent to violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause,...

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from a liberal watchdog organization arguing President Trump is violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by paying foreign governments. Judge George Daniels dismissed the case on “lack of standing,” agreeing with Trump’s lawyers’ argument that the claims do not fall within the interests of the Emoluments Clause, and should be resolved through the “political process," according to the ruling. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit earlier this year claiming that because Trump has not fully divested from his businesses, he is receiving “cash and favors from...

A federal judge has granted two attorneys general permission to subpoena 23 Trump businesses to require them to preserve documents potentially related to an emoluments case. The two-page order by U.S. District Judge Peter Messittee grants the request by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and District of Columbia Attorney Karl Racine for permission to serve the subpoenas related to their lawsuit. Their lawsuit, filed in June, alleges that President Trump’s wide-ranging businesses with foreign and domestic governments violate the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses. Trump has motioned to dismiss the lawsuit, and oral arguments are scheduled for Jan. 25, 2018.

Democratic members of Congress on Wednesday sued President Trump in federal court, claiming he had violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution by accepting foreign funds through the Trump business without Congressional approval. The Washington Post broke the news early Wednesday morning, reporting that 196 lawmakers had joined the complaint, more than any lawmakers ever to sign on to sue a president. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) led the filing in federal district court, and said Tuesday that while no Republicans had joined the lawsuit, they were welcome to do so. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) led the legal effort in...

In a moment of glory for Constitution nerds, "Emoluments Clause" was trending last week on Twitter. That's the clause in our nation's founding document that bans federal officeholders from accepting favors from foreign governments without the OK of Congress. It has come to the fore in part because the operations of the Trump Organization regularly throw President-elect Trump and his family into business relations with such governments and their representatives. For example, Trump just threw an event welcoming potential customers to his newly opened Washington hotel, which is expected to do a boom business on inauguration week. Some diplomats told...

Millions of American users of smartphones made by ZTE Corp. are already feeling the fallout from the U.S. Commerce Department’s blacklisting of the Chinese phonemaker: They’re unable to update Google’s Android operating system. Last month’s wide-ranging order by the U.S. Commerce Department prevents American companies from selling components and software to ZTE, the fourth-largest vendor of mobile phones in the U.S. That has led Google to halt updates to ZTE phones, leaving users cut off from security patches, technical support and other functions provided by the Android operating system used on ZTE’s smartphones. Though Chinese consumers have shunned ZTE in...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s pledge to help a Chinese telecommunication company that broke U.S. sanctions law sparked a backlash from lawmakers who said the move could weaken the U.S. hand in upcoming trade talks with Beijing. The Commerce Department last month banned U.S. companies from selling to ZTE Corp for seven years after it illegally shipped goods made with U.S. parts to Iran and North Korea, prompting the company to shut its main business operations last week. Trump said on Sunday that he was working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help ZTE revive jobs. In exchange for...