Dems Investigating Donald Trump Steering Government Spending To His Resorts
House Democrats have taken formal steps to investigate Donald Trump’s possible attempts at steering U.S. and foreign government business to his resorts. According to CNBC, progressive House leaders believe that the president may be using his office to profit his businesses after reportedly suggesting Mike Pence stay at his Irish resort and that the next G-7 summit be held at one of his Florida properties.
In a series of letters made public on Friday, the House Judiciary Committee and Oversight Committee revealed that they are demanding details from the White House, Secret Service, the vice president’s office, and Trump’s private companies. The goal, they say, is to determine whether the president violated the Constitution’s prohibition against making money from U.S. or foreign investments while in office.
In the letter, Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler from New York, along with Representative Steve Cohen, the Tennessee chairman of the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, say that there is concern that Trump violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution.
“The threat that the President’s personal financial interests could shape decisions concerning official U.S. government activities is precisely the type of risk that the Emoluments Clauses were intended to minimize,” the letter reads.
The move comes after Vice President Mike Pence spent a few days during an official trip to Ireland staying at one of Trump’s resorts despite the fact that it was over a hundred miles away from where his meetings were taking place. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Trump allegedly made the suggestion that Pence stay at his Doonbeg resort, though he later denied that was the case.
Trump also suggested that the next G-7 in 2020 be held at Trump’s Doral resort in Miami, Florida. While talking about his resort as a possible location for the summit, he touted the “incredible restaurants” and “conference rooms” and the “magnificent buildings.”
How much do foreign govts spend at @realdonaldtrump's businesses? About $1M a year, according to a former Trump Org VP.
If Trump chooses his own Doral club to host the G-7, that number could go way up.https://t.co/jJD5kg6Sw5— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) September 3, 2019
“The Doral and Doonbeg cases are just two of the many examples of the solicitation or receipt of foreign government spending to the benefit of the President’s private financial interests,” Nadler and Cohen said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also expressed concern this week that the president may be using the office to promote his businesses.
“President Trump is violating the Constitution by making money off of his lavish, ritzy resort properties, ultimately prioritizing his profits over the interests of the American people,” she said.
The investigation has requested documents by September 19.
