On Saturday Trump reversed his decision to host next June's G-7 meeting of heads of state at Trump National Doral Miami because, he said, it would have been an impeachable offense and a violation of the Constitution's Emoluments Clause.
No, that's not the reason he gave. He said he reversed himself because of "Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational hostility."
In reality, Trump has been funneling government dollars into his own pockets ever since he was elected. The Doral deal was just too much corruption even for Senate Republicans to stomach, and they stopped it.
Since he's been president, Trump has spent almost a third of his time at one or another of his resorts or commercial properties—costing taxpayers a bundle and giving those resorts incomparable publicity.
One of his golf resorts, Turnberry in Scotland, has gotten business from U.S. Air Force crews overnighting while their planes were refueled.
When Vice President Pence visited the president of Ireland in September, rather than stay in Dublin he stayed 181 miles away on the other side of Ireland — at the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg. The person who suggested he stay there was the hotel's owner, Donald Trump. Those two nights cost American taxpayers nearly $600,000 in ground transportation alone.
Not only are American taxpayers lining Trump's pockets but foreign officials and lobbyists, seeking to curry Trump's favor, routinely check into the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. or Trump Tower in New York. During Trump's infamous phone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky last July, Zelensky was eager to tell him he "stayed at the Trump Tower" when last in New York.
Mar-a-Lago, Trump's oceanfront resort in Palm Beach, charges its foreign government visitors up to five hundred and fifty dollars a night for their rooms, according to ProPublica.
How does Trump get away with this?
Presidents of the United States are exempt from the federal conflict-of-interest statutes – a glaring omission that was never a problem before Trump exploited this loophole. To make matters worse, Trump has refused to put his assets into a blind trust, so he knows exactly how much he gains from these transactions.
Theoretically, the public is protected from Trump's avarice by the Constitution, which strictly limits the "emoluments"—that is, a payment of money or anything else of value—a president can receive.
Article II, Section 1 says a president receives a salary while in office and "shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States." Trump violates this clause every time taxpayer money finds its way into his pockets.
And then there's Article I, Section 9, which states that no federal officeholder can receive any "Emolument" from any foreign state. Trump violates this clause whenever he makes money off a foreign government.
The reason the Framers of the Constitution included these provisions wasn't just to prevent a president from being bribed. It was also to prevent the appearance of bribes, and thereby maintain public trust in the presidency.
But the appearance if not reality of bribery continues to haunt Trump. For example, it's far from clear whether Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from the Turkish-Syrian border – a move that has led to the slaughter of Kurds and opened the way for a resurgence of ISIS – was made in the interest of the United States or Trump's own business. The Trump Towers Istanbul is his first and only office and residential building in Europe.
Clearly, Trump continues to violate the Constitution's emoluments clauses. So how to hold him accountable? Three ways.
The first is through the federal courts. A lawsuit brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia accuses Trump of violating the Constitution by holding a financial interest in his Washington hotel. Another brought be several plaintiffs alleges that Trump's government-subsidized businesses create unfair competition.
A third lawsuit by 215 Democratic members of Congress seeks "the opportunity to cast a binding vote" on the issue, since the Constitution requires the president to obtain "the consent of Congress" before accepting any emolument.
But all these cases are moving through the courts at a slow pace—probably too slowly to stop Trump from lining his pockets this term of office.
The second way to hold Trump accountable is through impeachment, which has already begun in the House.
Trump's violation of the emoluments clauses should be added to the likely grounds for impeachment already being investigated – seeking the help of a foreign power in an election, and obstruction of justice.
The third and most important way to hold Trump accountable occurs November 3, 2020.
That's when the the American public can stop Trump from making money off his presidency by voting him out of office.
Robert B. Reich is an American political commentator, professor, and author. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
