NEW YORK (AP) – A lawsuit Monday alleged that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his business to accept payments from foreign governments.
Trump is violating the so-called emoluments clause in the Constitution that prohibits him from receiving money from diplomats for stays at his hotels or foreign governments for leases of office space in his buildings, according to the suit filed by a legal watchdog group. The language in the clause is disputed by some legal scholars, setting the stage for a court fight with the White House.
White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks said that “the president has no conflicts,” and referred to arguments made by Trump lawyer Sheri Dillon at the president’s news conference earlier this month.
Dillon has said the framers did not intend for the Constitutional prohibition to apply to fair-value exchanges, such as paying for a hotel room or venue space at a hotel.
“No one would have thought the Constitution was written that paying your hotel bill was an emolument,” Dillon said at a news conference.