The Democrats are fighting back. While Republicans in the House of Representatives have been trying for years to find evidence that current President Joe Biden benefited from his son's foreign business dealings, this Thursday the Democrats released a comprehensive 156-page report detailing the payments made by foreign governments to Donald Trump detailed businesses while he was president. The report, titled “The White House for Sale,” was prepared by members of the House Oversight Committee. It denounces that Trump's companies received $7.8 million (€7.1 million at the current exchange rate) during his time as a tenant in the White House.
Most of the payments, detailed almost to the penny, relate to foreign executives who stayed at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, although there were also payouts to his Las Vegas hotel, Trump World Tower and Trump Tower (where Offices are rented) there are the last two in New York. These payments have been subject to scrutiny in the past, as the ninth section of Article 1 of the United States Constitution, in its anti-corruption clause, prohibits presidents from accepting money, payments, or gifts “of any kind, from any king, prince, or state.” Aliens” without the consent of Congress. Trump never asked for approval.
Now the disbursements are systematized in this document, which lists around twenty foreign countries, led by China, with $5.57 million, responsible for the embassy in Washington and Chinese public companies; Saudi Arabia with $615,422; Qatar with $465,744; Kuwait ($303,372); India ($282,764), Malaysia ($248,962) and Afghanistan at $154,750. Payments from 14 other countries are reported under $100,000. Neither Spain nor any Latin American country appears on the list.
“These payments occurred while these administrations were promoting specific foreign policy goals with the Trump administration and, at times, even with President Trump himself, and while they were demanding specific actions from the United States to advance their own domestic policy goals,” the executive summary of the report says.
“By putting his personal financial interests and the political priorities of corrupt foreign powers ahead of the American public interest, former President Trump violated both the clear mandates of the Constitution and the careful precedents set and followed by every previous commander in chief.” , it says. the document in an introduction signed by Congressman Jamie Raskin.
During Trump's presidency, Democrats began investigating these payments. The investigation led to a legal battle that reached the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court declined to rule on the grounds that the case no longer had any merit because he had left the White House. In 2020, a federal court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Democratic members of Congress on procedural grounds, but without addressing the legality or illegality of the payments.
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In any case, some of the documents received from the auditor Mazars in the course of this ongoing investigation have now been used to prepare the report.
The Trump-controlled Justice Department argued at the time that the Constitution's anti-corruption clause did not apply to profits the president earned from business dealings outside of his official duties, but only to receipt of compensation for personal services or honors and gifts related to his position are connected. The boundary is somewhat fluid anyway, as staying in Trump's hotel could be interpreted as a means of gaining the president's favor.
The fact that Democrats are now getting back into the fray has particular significance because Republicans have agreed to an investigation into the possible impeachment of current President Joe Biden, in which they are trying to find evidence that he was his vice president Son Hunter benefited from Biden's business dealings. Their efforts have failed for the time being.
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