September 17, 2018

State attorneys genral on the Trump case

NPR -The attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia want the legal authority to get any communications between President Trump and officials of foreign or U.S. state governments pertaining to his Trump International Hotel near the White House.

The proposal is one of several for "document discovery" in the historic civil suit against the president. As plaintiffs, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine and Maryland Attorney General Peter Frosh can seek documents to bolster their complaints....

The suit alleges that Trump has violated two anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution: the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bars federal officials from accepting gifts or rewards from foreign government officials, and the Domestic Emoluments Clause, which prohibits the president from accepting benefits from state governments.

U.S. District Court Judge Peter Messitte ruled in July that the attorneys general had legal standing to sue. This is the first emoluments case in American history to go to trial.

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