Democratic lawmakers are suing US President Donald Trump over foreign money flowing into his global business empire.
Almost 200 senators and representatives are plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging Trump is violating the so-called emoluments clause of the Constitution. It’s being filed early Wednesday in US District Court for the District of Columbia, the lawmakers said.
The plaintiffs argue they have standing to sue because the clause says only Congress may approve foreign gifts and payments.
“The framers gave Congress a unique role, a unique right and responsibility,” said Sen Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who helped organise the lawsuit.
Although Trump turned over control of his real estate development, management and marketing company to his adult sons and a senior executive, he did not divest from it. That means he stands to benefit financially from the Trump Organisation’s profits, including from foreign governments.
Since he’s become president, the Trump Organisation has secured dozens of potentially valuable patents, including in China, and collected fees from lobbyists working for Saudi Arabia and other countries using his properties.
The new suit, the third of its kind, says the full scope of foreign payments to the Trump Organisation cannot be known because the president has not made public his tax returns.
Earlier this week, two Democratic attorneys general filed a similar claim. Days after Trump’s inauguration in January, a liberal-funded government watchdog filed an emoluments lawsuit. A restaurant group and two individuals in the hotel industry later joined as co-plaintiffs.
Trump and the Justice Department have called these lawsuits baseless. They argue the clause isn’t intended to prevent normal business such as hotel payments and real estate transactions.
Rare to sue president
Lawmakers rarely sue the president, so there are few federal court decisions the legislators can cite to prove their legal standing to bring Wednesday’s case, said Leah Litman, an assistant professor specialising in constitutional law at the University of California, Irvine.
“But the constitutional provision they’re suing to enforce gives them a role in how it’s carried out, and that gives them a powerful standing argument,” Litman said.
The lawmakers in Wednesday’s lawsuit will be represented in court by the Constitutional Accountability Centre, a public interest law firm in Washington. Each lawmaker is paying a share of the legal fees from personal or campaign accounts.