Adelaide
02-13-2017, 08:16 AM
Three days into Donald Trump’s presidency, the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/08/watchdog-group-files-complaint-with-irs-against-trump-foundation.html) in Washington filed a lawsuit charging Trump with violating the Constitution. Since the ’70s, every president who has owned a business sold it to avoid conflicts of interest. But Trump ignored precedent, turning his businesses over to his sons instead. He claimed he would not be involved with daily operations or benefit from the companies while in office. Yet documents recently discovered (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2017_02_03_us_politics_donald-2Dtrump-2Dbusiness.html-3Fhp-26action-3Dclick-26pgtype-3DHomepage-26clickSource-3Dstory-2Dheading-26module-3Dfirst-2Dcolumn-2Dregion-26region-3Dtop-2Dnews-26WT.nav-3Dtop-2Dnews-26-5Fr-3D0&d=DwMFaQ&c=r30hyXAdWe8oret4PlAIyA&r=3tmueR0gt2edP-ly6CjEm9YieoaoSVA9rZXR1nqJXjo&m=AuEcbTKUTi-K5fv8YdprZ-25f2cLKVh9kiWBvU9OQcU&s=FGnZrxQZRet3uvsYQc2zgeaFG4IM36FcDURIBDtnJZU&e=) show that Trump continues to benefit from them, and because the companies receive payments from foreign governments, President Trump is, the suit argues, violating the Constitution. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2017/01/23/justice-dept-to-defend-trump-in-lawsuit.html) Trump called the suit “totally without merit.”
Zephyr Teachout, the former New York gubernatorial and congressional candidate (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/18/can-new-york-democrat-zephyr-teachout-stop-governor-andrew-cuomo.html), is one of the lawyers on the suit. A Fordham law professor, Teachout is an expert on political corruption and conflicts of interest. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/08/donald-trump-s-huge-conflict-of-interest-in-turkey.html) She is adamant that President Trump’s thorny business relationships are the kind the Framers were concerned about. In 2014, Teachout authored Corruption in America (https://www.amazon.com/Corruption-America-Benjamin-Franklins-Citizens/dp/0674659988), a book about how our Founding Fathers viewed political corruption and the safeguards they put in place to prevent it. One of those safeguards is a constitutional clause that prohibits federal officials from taking benefits from foreign governments. I recently spoke to Teachout about the suit, the president’s vast conflicts of interests, and why the Framers wanted impeachment to be a potential punishment for them.
Is Trump Stiffing the Constitution Over His Conflict of Interests? (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/12/is-trump-stiffing-the-constitution-over-his-conflicts-of-interest.html)
The impeachment part is nonesense, but it would be troublesome if it true that he still profits from his businesses which take foreign payments and investments.
Zephyr Teachout, the former New York gubernatorial and congressional candidate (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/18/can-new-york-democrat-zephyr-teachout-stop-governor-andrew-cuomo.html), is one of the lawyers on the suit. A Fordham law professor, Teachout is an expert on political corruption and conflicts of interest. (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/08/donald-trump-s-huge-conflict-of-interest-in-turkey.html) She is adamant that President Trump’s thorny business relationships are the kind the Framers were concerned about. In 2014, Teachout authored Corruption in America (https://www.amazon.com/Corruption-America-Benjamin-Franklins-Citizens/dp/0674659988), a book about how our Founding Fathers viewed political corruption and the safeguards they put in place to prevent it. One of those safeguards is a constitutional clause that prohibits federal officials from taking benefits from foreign governments. I recently spoke to Teachout about the suit, the president’s vast conflicts of interests, and why the Framers wanted impeachment to be a potential punishment for them.
Is Trump Stiffing the Constitution Over His Conflict of Interests? (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/02/12/is-trump-stiffing-the-constitution-over-his-conflicts-of-interest.html)
The impeachment part is nonesense, but it would be troublesome if it true that he still profits from his businesses which take foreign payments and investments.