Donald Trump is desperately trying to get out of his many scandals but fortunately, the justice system is holding him accountable.
Recently, the president had tried to stop a lawsuit that accuses him of Constitutional violations due to his business deals with foreign governments. The federal judge, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte in Greenbelt, Md., promptly smacked it down and rejected Trump’s attempt, giving the lawsuit the green light to proceed.
This marks the first time a federal judge has made a ruling like this in regards to a sitting president. The lawsuit, which was brought forth by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia, stated that Trump has violated emoluments clauses in the U.S. Constitution.
Messitte’s ruling could be extremely bad for Trump’s shady, secretive businesses. Trump has opted not only to break his promise to America that he would step away from his businesses, but he has refused to be transparent. Trump’s businesses keep their foreign transactions private, despite the fact that America should know what their president is up to. Just last year, the Trump Organization reported $150K in “foreign profits” and hosted several events that were paid for by foreign governments.
In his opinion, Messitte wrote that the Constitution’s ban on “emoluments” could be applied to any foreign business transactions in which Trump had a “profit, gain or advantage.” The judge wrote:
This includes profits from private transactions, even those involving services given at fair market value.
In sum, Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the President has been receiving or is potentially able to receive ‘emoluments’ … in violation of the Constitution.”
The Trump Organization could now try to appeal the ruling, but Messitte’s decision will probably hold. Now that the case will proceed, plaintiffs are looking to interview employees of the Trump Organization and look through company records to see which foreign countries have spent money at Trump’s Washington hotel. They also want to get their hands on Trump’s hidden tax returns. The plaintiffs said:
We are one step closer to stopping President Trump from violating the Constitution’s original anti-corruption provisions.”
BREAKING: Federal judge gives go-ahead to lawsuit alleging that @realDonaldTrump is violating the Constitution b/c he still does business with foreign govts. Could open a window into secretive Trump Org.’s books and customers. https://t.co/j7ZdxJT4Yd
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) July 25, 2018
Featured image via screen capture
