Tag: Emoluments

Trump’s Ukrainian Emoluments Problem

Buck Banks

“Actually, last time I traveled to the United States, I stayed in New York near Central Park, and I stayed at the Trump Tower.”

— “Buried in the controversy over President Trump’s phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was an effort by the Ukrainian leader at currying favor with Trump through his business,” the Washington Post reports.“Zelensky’s comments mark the first known example of an interaction Democrats and government ethics experts warned about when Trump took office: that foreign leaders would try to influence Trump by spending money at his properties and telling him about it.”

T-Mobile Used Trump Hotel Stays to Parlay Influence

Buck Banks

$195,000

“T-Mobile’s patronage of President Trump’s Washington hotel increased sharply after the announcement of its merger with Sprint last April, with executives spending about $195,000 at the property since then, the company told congressional Democrats in a letter last month,” the Washington Post reports. “Before news of the megadeal between rival companies broke on April 29, 2018, the company said, only two top officials from T-Mobile had ever stayed at Trump’s hotel, with one overnight stay each in August 2017.”

Trump’s Washington Hotel Turns an Unexpected Profit

Buck Banks

$1.97 million

“Donald Trump’s company turned a $1.97 million profit at its opulent Trump International Hotel so far in 2017, dramatically beating its expectations and giving the first hard numbers to critics who charge that Trump is profiting from his presidency,” the Washington Post reports. “The Trump Organization had projected that it would lose $2.1 million during the first four months of 2017 as it established a new hotel and convention business in the nation’s capital, according to newly released federal documents. Instead the hotel, with its namesake in the White House down the street, is already turning a hefty profit and charging more for its rooms than most or all of the city’s other hotels.”

Most Trump Real Estate Deals to Buyers Who Shield Their Identity

Buck Banks

79%

“Since President Trump won the Republican nomination, the majority of his companies’ real estate sales are to secretive shell companies that obscure the buyers’ identities,” a USA Today investigation has found. “Over the last 12 months, about 70% of buyers of Trump properties were limited liability companies – corporate entities that allow people to purchase property without revealing all of the owners’ names. That compares with about 4% of buyers in the two years before.”

Almost 200 Democrat Lawmakers Sue Trump

Buck Banks

200

USA Today: “Nearly 200 Democratic members of Congress filed a lawsuit against President Trump on Wednesday morning alleging that his continued ties to his business empire violate the U.S. Constitution. The unprecedented legal action accuses Trump of violating the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts or titles from foreign governments without congressional approval. … The lawsuit will have the greatest number of congressional plaintiffs of any lawsuit against the president in the nation’s history.”

New Government Rule: Presidents Get to Charge More for Memberships at Their Resorts

Trish

$200,000

The new initiation fee to join the Mar-a-Lago resort owned by Donald Trump and designated the “Winter White House.” The fee, which is double the pre-presidency rate, was announced shortly after Trump’s election in November and took effect Jan. 1. It includes the chance to mingle with president, and Trump advertised the resort by tweeting a photograph of himself seated at a desk there which he claimed depicted him writing his inauguratory address.