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emoluments
Emoluments Probe Concludes Trump Used DC Hotel to Enrich Himself, Fleece Taxpayers While President
"Far from expressing contrition for cashing in on the presidency, Donald Trump has made explicit his intent to expand his commodification of federal office if re-elected."
Oct 18, 2024
Democrats on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Friday published a staff report detailing how, while in office, former U.S. President Donald Trump—the 2024 Republican nominee—used his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. to enrich himself with hundreds of illegal or questionable payments from federal and state officials, job-seekers, and presidential pardon recipients.
The report—titled Room Rates May Vary: How Donald Trump Violated the Constitution by Fleecing Taxpayers With Unlawful and Exorbitant Hotel Charges—was released by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who in 2021 managed Trump's historic second impeachment for inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
"Trump has used the presidency—and his yearslong pursuit of it—as the world's greatest get-rich-quick scheme."
Offering "a glimpse into President Trump's domestic emoluments rackets," the publication accuses the former president of violating the Constitution's Domestic Emoluments Clause "as he used the Secret Service as his personal ATM and repeatedly took payments that raise the specter of pay-to-play corruption from individuals who sought and, in many cases obtained, favors from the commander-in-chief."
"From the time he became a candidate and launched his campaign as ' the greatest infomercial in political history,' Donald Trump has used the presidency—and his yearslong pursuit of it—as the world's greatest get-rich-quick scheme," the report states.
"Earlier this year, the Democratic staff of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability released a staff report documenting the nearly $8 million former President Trump received through just four of his businesses and over just parts of a two-year period from at least 20 foreign governments that sought—and in many cases received—favors from the Trump administration," the report notes.
"This figure is clearly just a fraction of the total amount of unconstitutional foreign emoluments President Trump collected while in office—a total that still needs to be fully accounted for," the paper contends.
As Common Dreamsreported in January, documents from Trump's former accounting firm reviewed by the committee revealed that businesses owned by the former president received payments from at least 20 foreign governments during his White House term, including over $5.5 million from China, $615,422 from Saudi Arabia, $465,744 from Qatar, and $303,372 from Kuwait.
The new report continues:
This follow-up report is based on a single set of records: guest logs for a single Trump property, Donald Trump's Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., covering just an 11-month period between September 2017 and August 2018 (excluding July 2018). Thus, the results would presumably represent less than one-quarter of Trump's ill-gotten gains from a single hotel over the course of his four-year term. While this is an exceedingly small window into the opaque web of more than 500 corporations, limited liability companies, and trusts that Donald Trump carried with him into the presidency, it is enough to reveal hundreds of unconstitutional and ethically suspect payments he accepted while in office from domestic sources—including a federal agency, numerous federal and state officials, and individuals who sought, and frequently obtained, federal offices as well as presidential pardons from him.
"The Constitution makes clear: Beyond a salary, the president may not receive any additional payments from federal or state governments," Raskin said in a statement. "This is a non-waivable prohibition against exploiting the office to convert and pocket public funds."
"While we still do not know the full extent of the unconstitutional payments Trump pocketed while fleecing American taxpayers, one thing is certain: We must put legal barriers in place now to prevent the kind of ripoff corruption our Founding Fathers so strongly opposed," Raskin added. "Given the need to enforce the U.S. Constitution against both foreign and domestic emoluments corruption, in the coming days, I will work with my Democratic colleagues on a legislative fix and hope that my Republican colleagues will join us in this effort."
The report notes that "Trump was very clear that he did not believe that the Constitution's prohibitions on either foreign or domestic emoluments applied to him. For example, in 2019, when public outrage forced him to reverse his plan to hold the following year's G7 summit at his 'foundering Doral resort,' he publicly denigrated what he called the 'phony Emoluments Clause.'"
"And far from expressing contrition for cashing in on the presidency, Donald Trump has made explicit his intent to expand his commodification of federal office if re-elected—including by gutting the federal civil service and replacing professional, expert, nonpolitical federal employees with a cadre of yes-men, sycophants, and loyalists," the paper adds.
Raskin said that "Trump
has made clear that he will not only refuse to divest from his businesses in a possible future presidency, but he will seek to multiply opportunities to commodify the Oval Office for his personal enrichment by turning thousands of civil service jobs into patronage positions—all with the attendant payoff possibilities from supplicant job-seekers and the prospective blessing of his hand-picked Supreme Court justices."
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Trump Reported Making More Than $1.6 Billion While President
When Trump failed to separate himself from his businesses—and in fact used the presidency to increase his business earnings—he made it clear that his top priority was his personal profits.
Feb 21, 2021
Donald Trump reported making more than $1.6 billion in outside revenue and income during his four years as President of the United States, according to a review of his financial disclosures by CREW. While Trump publicly took credit for donating his taxpayer-funded salary, that ended up being less than 0.1% of the revenue and income he disclosed during his presidency. Far from being a sacrifice, the donation was merely a fig leaf to cover up four years of brazen corruption.
Despite seeing a major dropoff in hospitality related revenue in 2020 due to the pandemic, in total Trump disclosed at least $1,613,583,013 in revenue from the Trump Organization and other outside income. Trump disclosed a high end of $1,790,614,202, but it is impossible to know exactly how much he pocketed as president, as some of his assets list a vague "Over $5,000,000" in yearly income and because of the structure of Trump Organization businesses, reported revenue does not necessarily reflect his personal income from them. One of the reports also included 19 days of revenue and income before Trump assumed the presidency.
A major part of his Trump Organization revenue came from the marquee properties that he often visited during his presidency. The Trump Hotel in DC, his now "home" Mar-a-Lago and his golf courses Doral, Bedminister and Trump National Washington brought in a combined $620,709,659 over the last four years. He paid a combined 399 visits to these properties as president. With the pandemic shuttering hotels and golf courses, the Trump Hotel dropped from $40 million a year in revenue to $15 million from 2020 through the end of Trump's presidency and Doral, which saw regular revenue in the mid-$70 millions, only tallied $44 million. Mar-a-Lago, however, saw a slight uptick to $24 million, as the president continued to visit during the pandemic. The Virginia-based Trump National Washington, which the president spent many weekends at during the pandemic, did not see a dropoff from the previous three years.
The argument could be made that Trump needed the presidency to keep his struggling business empire above water and the profits flowing into his pockets.Maybe the most notable foreign properties in Trump's portfolio are his three European golf courses--Turnberry and Aberdeen in Scotland and Doonbeg in Ireland--which the famously debt-laden developer bought in surprising cash deals and which have hemorrhaged money every year he has owned them. But while the courses have lost money, Trump still disclosed $138,726,106 in revenue from them over the last four years, this despite revenue dropping by nearly two-thirds in 2020.
What remains to be seen is whether he'll be able to keep the grift going post-presidency. Members of Congress, his administration, political supporters, special interests and foreign governments flocked to his properties in numbers never seen before. He also, over and over again, directed government spending to his properties, from his insistence on doing government business at Mar-a-Lago to Mike Pence staying at Doonbeg when he had meetings all the way on the other side of Ireland to his attempt to host the G-7 Conference at his struggling Trump National Doral property.
The argument could be made that Trump needed the presidency to keep his struggling business empire above water and the profits flowing into his pockets. The Trump Hotel in DC defied all expectations to quickly turn a profit despite charging well above most other DC hotels. People who wished to influence the president--lobbyists, politicians, foreign and state governments--paid a premium to see and be seen at the Trump Hotel, rubbing elbows with the president and his closest advisers. With Trump out of power, although threatening America with another run, it remains to be seen whether his businesses will still be seen as a new breed of corporate and foreign lobbying. In the wake of his attempted insurrection, many companies cut ties with his businesses. Only time will tell if that holds.
When Trump failed to separate himself from his businesses--and in fact used the presidency to increase his business earnings--he made it clear that his top priority was his personal profits. In that regard, the Trump administration was a ringing success.
However, as Trump constantly reminded us, he did donate his official yearly salary. All $400,000 of it.
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'That's Insane... He Still Has the Money': SCOTUS Tosses Emoluments Lawsuits Targeting Trump
One watchdog critic angered by the court's decision said, "Congress must act now to ensure that no future president can profit off the presidency."
Jan 24, 2021
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dismissed lawsuits related to whether former President Donald Trump illegally profited from his presidency in violation of the U.S. Constitution's emoluments clauses, eliciting swift condemnation from political commentators, ethics experts, and other Trump critics who have long demanded accountability.
"It's beyond clear that presidents should not be able to profit from their title or office. But instead of saying so, SCOTUS took the easy way out and ran out the clock," said Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a senior member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and chair of the Subcommittee on Government Operations.
\u201cOur first field hearing before Trump took office was on emoluments. It\u2019s beyond clear that presidents should not be able to profit from their title or office. But instead of saying so, SCOTUS took the easy way out and ran out the clock.\u201d— Rep. Gerry Connolly (@Rep. Gerry Connolly) 1611588316
When Trump took office in 2017, he infamously refused to divest from his business empire and charged his adult sons--Don Jr. and Eric--and CFO Allen Weisselberg with overseeing the Trump Organization, which has been called "a rat's nest of hundreds of ambiguous limited liability companies."
Throughout his presidency, as special interest groups and foreign officials frequented his properties--especially the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.--Trump faced allegations from competitors, lawmakers, and advocacy groups that he was violating the emoluments clauses (pdf).
The emoluments lawsuits in question were filed by the state of Maryland and the District of Columbia as well as hotels and restaurant in New York City and Washington, D.C. that "found themselves in the unenviable position of having to compete with businesses owned by the president of the United States."
Less than a week after Trump's presidency ended, the Supreme Court tossed Trump's challenge to lower court rulings that had allowed the lawsuits to proceed, ordered those rulings thrown out, and directed a pair of appeals courts to dismiss the suits as moot because Trump is no longer in office.
Walter Shaub resigned as director of the United States Office of Government Ethics after clashing with the then-president. A longtime critic of the twice-impeached Trump--who still faces a trial in the U.S. Senate for inciting a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol--Shaub blasted the court's decision.
"That's insane. They're not moot," said Shaub. "He still has the money. When any other federal employee violates the emoluments clause they have to forfeit the money."
This is why Trump should have been impeached on day one. He was actively violating the Constitution's emoluments clause and was able to stall and delay any litigation on this so that he was never held accountable for it. https://t.co/aAOZdU9upp
-- Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 25, 2021
"If ever there were cases that fit the mootness exception these are they. The fact they arrived at the SCOTUS at the end of Trump's term demonstrate precisely why these actions can easily 'evade review.' As for 'capable of repetition,' Trump has stated his plan to run in [four years]," tweeted Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
Ifill added that "had they held the cases to see if Trump is barred from holding office after Senate conviction, I could better understand. But even then, we need to know the contours of the emoluments clause for any president."
"The actual holding here isn't that the emolument cases are moot. It's that the president is above the law, because any attempt to bind the president through the courts will easily exceed the duration of the president's term in office, so don't bother," declared Will Stancil, a research fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity.
"These suits were filed within months of Trump raking office; you could scarcely go faster," Stancil said. "So the rule, in practice, is that emoluments violations are allowed (unless the president is a Democrat, in which case the suits will somehow magically reach the Supreme Court in months)."
"This dismissal by a partisan Supreme Court is yet another reason why Congress must pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would ensure that the emoluments clause of the Constitution is enforced and that Congress has standing to move quickly in the courts to enforce it."
--Sean Eldridge, Stand Up America
As CNN Supreme Court analyst and University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck explained, "The Supreme Court's procedural order not only wipes away two lower court rulings, but it also orders dismissal of the entire dispute--leaving for some other time resolution of the many questions Trump's conduct raised about the emoluments clause."
"Ordinarily, the court pursues such a step only when the prevailing party moots a case while the appeal is pending--as opposed to here, where the disputes became moot because Trump's term ended," Vladeck added. "Today's orders suggest that the court is increasingly willing to invoke this doctrine to avoid highly charged political disputes, even if the mootness wasn't caused by the parties that won below."
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington executive director Noah Bookbinder noted Monday that "CREW sued Donald Trump on his first day in the Oval Office for systematic violations of the emoluments clauses of the Constitution" and said his group was honored to work with everyone involved in these two cases.
"These two emoluments cases continued to move forward successfully, including wins in two federal appeals courts, through four years of the Trump presidency, despite advancing novel legal theories and having the weight of a presidential administration arrayed against them," he said. "This important litigation made the American people aware for four years of the pervasive corruption that came from a president maintaining a global business and taking benefits and payments from foreign and domestic governments. Only Trump losing the presidency and leaving office ended these corrupt constitutional violations stopped these groundbreaking lawsuits."
Stand Up America founder and president Sean Eldridge responded to the ruling by calling for democracy reforms to prevent future presidents from similar behavior, asserting that "Donald Trump spent the past four years shamelessly abusing the power of the presidency to enrich himself and his family."
"This dismissal by a partisan Supreme Court is yet another reason why Congress must pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which would ensure that the emoluments clause of the Constitution is enforced and that Congress has standing to move quickly in the courts to enforce it," Eldridge said. "Congress must act now to ensure that no future president can profit off the presidency."
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