US: Maryland, DC attorneys general file federal lawsuit against Trump

The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a federal lawsuit on Monday against President Donald Trump, alleging he violated the Constitution by improperly retaining ties to his sprawling global business empire and by accepting foreign payments while in office.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh joined District counterpart Karl Racine at a news conference in the nation’s capital, saying the suit was filed in US District Court in neighboring Maryland. Much of the case is focused on allegations that Trump’s real estate and business holdings violate a little-known emoluments clause of the Constitution. Those provisions bar the president and other government employees from accepting foreign gifts and payments without congressional approval.

The Trump Hotel in the nation’s capital affects business in the Washington area and is part of the reason the lawsuit was filed, the two Democratic officials explained. They also said their action was non-partisan, and other state attorneys general, including Republicans, were welcome to join the suit. It seeks an injunction to stop what the two alleged are the president’s constitutional violations.

“We have economic interests that are impacted, but the most salient factor is that when the president is subject to foreign influence, we have to be concerned about whether the actions he’s taking — both at home and abroad — are the result of payments that he is receiving at the Trump Hotel, payments that he is receiving at Mar-a-Lago, payments that he is receiving at Trump Tower, payments that he is receiving in all of his other far-flung enterprises, and he brags about it,” Frosh told The Associated Press in an earlier interview.

The attorneys general aren’t the first to sue Trump over emoluments. Just days after Trump’s inauguration in January, the government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a federal lawsuit in the Southern District of New York. Since then, a restaurant group and two individuals in the hotel industry have joined as plaintiffs.

The Justice Department said Friday that those plaintiffs did not suffer in any way and had no standing to sue, and that it is unconstitutional to sue the president in his official capacity.

Full Content: New York Times

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