Subpoenas issued to Trump Organization in emoluments lawsuit

By Jan Wolfe

 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. flags fly over the Trump International Hotel in Washington, U.S., August 3, 2018. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia on Tuesday formally demanded financial records from U.S. President Donald Trump's businesses as part of their lawsuit alleging his dealings with foreign governments violate anti-corruption clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

 

The attorneys general issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization Inc, the president's privately owned real estate company, and related corporate entities.

 

The flurry of subpoenas came one day after U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte in Greenbelt, Maryland, began the case's discovery phase, which allows litigants to demand answers to specific questions and production of sensitive documents.

 

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is defending the president in the litigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Among other documents, the attorneys general are seeking revenue statements and tax returns from the Trump Organization entities.

Ignoring the subpoenas would result in a finding of contempt of court, said George Brown, a professor at Boston College Law School.

 

The development "brings us closer to judicially enforced discovery about the Trump empire," said Brown. "It will probably tell us a lot we don't know because nobody is going to hide that stuff in the face of a subpoena."

 

U.S. government lawyers said on Friday in a court filing that they plan to ask an appeals court to halt discovery and review earlier rulings by Messitte that allowed the case to proceed.

 

Such requests for an expedited appeal rarely succeed, Brown said, but in this case the odds are higher because the case raises novel legal questions that the appeals court may want to address quickly.

 

The lawsuit, filed in June 2017, alleged the Republican president failed to disentangle himself from his hotels and other businesses, making him vulnerable to inducements by officials seeking to curry favour.

 

The lawsuit accused Trump of violating the Constitution’s “emoluments” provisions designed to prevent corruption and foreign influence. One bars U.S. officials from accepting gifts or other emoluments from foreign governments without congressional approval. The other forbids the president from receiving emoluments from individual states.

 

Messitte later narrowed the case to claims involving the Trump International Hotel in Washington and not Trump's businesses outside of the U.S. capital.

 

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-12-05

"...The lawsuit, filed in June 2017, alleged the Republican president failed to disentangle himself from his hotels and other businesses, making him vulnerable to inducements by officials seeking to curry favour..."

 

I am not a lawyer, but I can't see how this would not be a successful suit. If, as I read in the newspaper, the Saudi Delegation stays at the Trump hotel in Washington, it is of a financial benefit to Trump himself. And, when the President receives a financial benefit, it is influence and/or corruption, or at least the appearance of it. That is illegal. Period.

 

The sooner that the US gets rid of this... thing, the better off it and the world will be.

 

I have said it before and (sadly) need to say it again;

 

Donald Trump is an ever-expanding cloud of toxic waste that defiles everything ti touches.

 

God help us all.

 

As slow as the justice system is, it looks like a president who doesn't think that laws refer to him is ultimately going to get caught in a net of his own making. He has made such a habit of lying to the people and getting away with it that he assumed he could do the same with the courts. Slowly but surely he is getting entangled in his lies.

It’s going to get worse Donald much much worse

2 hours ago, Lungstib said:

As slow as the justice system is, it looks like a president who doesn't think that laws refer to him is ultimately going to get caught in a net of his own making. He has made such a habit of lying to the people and getting away with it that he assumed he could do the same with the courts. Slowly but surely he is getting entangled in his lies.

There is a potential for great irony here. The Donald has established a pattern of being an habitual liar. At court his lawyers can claim he has a medical condition resulting in lying. Therefore, the condition excuses him from being held accountable. And we all are witness to the fact that he is a liar who seems not to be able to help himself.... (only said partially, tongue in cheek). Best thing for him is to resign stating business interests needs and that the job is wearing on his health.....

4 hours ago, Samui Bodoh said:

 

I have said it before and (sadly) need to say it again;

 

Donald Trump is an ever-expanding cloud of toxic waste that defiles everything ti touches.

 

God help us all.

 

 

"He is a vortex of destruction, and the only way to survive is to get everything we love as far away from him as possible."

 

Robert Tracinski:

http://thefederalist.com/2017/08/16/donald-trump-needs-to-not-be-president-yesterday/

 

 

 

Edited December 5, 20187 yr by Enoon

I want to sue someone for making me google "emolument", but I don't know who.

It's frustrating and will cause me PTSD. 

13 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

I want to sue someone for making me google "emolument"

 

Sounds like a trump - not senior - hair-product...

 

Think it comes from the latin word for "grinding" as in grinding grain, so transitioned to a payment for grinding grain?

 

Ten years of Latin to the rescue.

 

 

32 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

I want to sue someone for making me google "emolument", but I don't know who.

It's frustrating and will cause me PTSD. 

Damnit!

you went and made me do it to!

???????????? who to Sue?

trump policy is not good.

An off topic post and the replies have been removed.  Unfortunately, this topic is not about Hillary. 

Looking forward to the attorney generals depose the Trump family, et al and hear the "mob" claim their Fifth Amendment right. https://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2018/12/05/trump-fifth-amendment-bts-john-dean-ebof-vpx.cnn