They knew he was a snake before they let him in
by digby
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| The Trump University fraud case was universally known before the election. |
The problem, of course, is that a majority of Americans didn’t let him in. His deluded followers helped him sneak in through the basement and now we can’t get him out.
Days after a lawsuit accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution’s “emoluments clause” added more plaintiffs, the House Oversight Committee is requesting the Trump Organization turn over documents detailing what processes Trump’s business has implemented, if any, to make sure the president isn’t profiting from foreign governments who want to curry favor with him.
On Friday, the Oversight Committee sent a letter to Sheri Dillon — the lawyer who detailed how Trump planned to avoid conflicts of interest during a January 11 news conference — asking her to detail how that plan is being implemented by no later than May 12.
The Constitution prohibits presidents from accepting “any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” But the Trump International Hotel has taken money from foreign governments to rent out event spaces and rooms at the hotel. And since Trump has broken presidential precedent by refusing to divest from his business interests, he stands to personally profit.
The problem was captured succinctly in this recent tweet from the Georgian ambassador that effectively served as an advertisement for the Trump International.The Oversight Committee’s letter actually cites a story first broken by ThinkProgress about how the Embassy of Kuwait changed plans shortly after the election and moved a February event from the Four Seasons to the Trump International. During the January 11 news conference, Dillon said that Trump’s plan to circumvent the constitutional problem posed by deals of that sort is “to voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotel to the United States Treasury.”
It’s obvious that he hasn’t done anthing and has no intention of doing anything.
Let’s let Jason Chaffetz explain how this works in the minds of Republicans when it comes to Trump
“I think the people who voted for Donald Trump went into it with eyes wide open. Everybody knew he was rich, everybody knew he had lots of different entanglements… These other little intrigues about a wealthy family making money is a bit of a sideshow.”
Trump himself believes that it’s perfectly ethical for him to run his businesses right out of he White House:
“I could actually run my business and run government at the same time. I don’t like the way that looks, but I would be able to do that if I wanted to.
ale
He probably is although he has Ivanka and Jared there to help him keep an eye on Chip and Dale who aren’t very together.
By the way, neither Ivanka or Jared have done much of anything to divest either. But why bother? According to the Republicans it’s perfectly legitimate. The media is reporting ethical conflicts and potential for corruption every day and it just doesn’t stick.
It’s pretty clear that like military service before us, the requirement for adherence to ethics rules is for Democrats only. Republicans no longer have to worry about such trifles. After all, we know they’re snakes before we let them in.
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