Trump’s foreign deals risk constitutional clash
Two conflicts could put him in violation of ‘Emoluments Clause’
As president, Donald Trump could profit substantially from foreign officials seeking to influence the new leader of the free world, a development that would violate the U.S. Constitution.
From Trump Tower in the Philippines to India and Saudi Arabia, foreign leaders would have an obvious lever to attempt to curry favor with the nation’s 45th president by pushing business to his children or other corporate officials, according to bipartisan ethics lawyers and constitutional scholars.
“There’s enormous potential for foreign influence over national policy, which is something we’ve always guarded against” over the nation’s 240-year history, said Jay Wexler, a law professor at Boston University who published a book on lesserknown constitutional provisions.
Trump plans a Dec. 15 news conference with his children to announce what steps he will take to avoid conflicts of interest. The
New York Times reported that the real estate billionaire may transfer operational control of his cor- porate empire to his two adult sons rather than relinquishing ownership to an independent trustee, as ethics experts are encouraging him to do.
Two initial conflicts could land Trump in immediate violation of the “Emoluments Clause,” an anti-bribery provision that forbids the president from receiving gifts from foreign leaders and is derived from the Latin word “emolumentum,” meaning “profit” or “gain.” It says political officials cannot “accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
The clause is so absolute that, in 1787, it forbade any gifts — even trinkets like copper, baubles and portraits. In 2016, foreign dignitaries booking the new Trump International Hotel, just blocks from the White House, for his Jan. 20 inauguration and probably a loan from the Bank of China for one of his Manhattan office buildings would be violations, according to legal experts. Both can be considered profits or gains from foreign officials. For instance, on Wednesday Bahrain held a national day of celebration at the hotel.
Trump has at least 28 foreign properties and partnerships that could generate money from foreign officials and trigger a violation of the Emoluments Clause, according to a USA TODAY analysis of financial disclosure forms. Beyond those 28 foreign properties are a series of deals that could expand that list of potential sources of foreign income. DEALS AROUND THE WORLD Some of his foreign dealings that could come under scrutiny include:
The Bank of China is a tenant in Trump Tower and a lender for another building in Midtown Manhattan.
In the Philippines, Trump’s business partner has been named special envoy to the United States. Businessman Jose E.B. Antonio is the founder of Century Properties Group Inc., the company behind Trump Tower in Manila. Shares surged 20% the day after Trump was elected. President Rodrigo Duterte is conducting a bloody crackdown to “kill all” suspected drug users and dealers that’s drawn strong foreign criticism including from the United States. According to Duterte, Trump endorsed his approach in a recent phone call.
In Azerbaijan, Trump’s partner is Anar Mammadov, a 34year-old billionaire whose father is Azerbaijan’s transportation minister accused of using his position to enrich his family. Mammadov is trying to rehabilitate the nation’s “kleptocratic image” by “courting some of Washington’s most powerful politicians,” according to a 2015 article by Mother Jones.
In India, Trump has licensed his brand to Trump Tower Mumbai, a luxury condo project being developed by Lodha Group, a real estate giant whose founder is a wealthy politician in the country’s governing party. At an October campaign event in New Jersey, Trump boasted of his “massive” and “very beautiful” projects in India. Just after the election, some of his Indian business partners flew to New York to meet with him and his children. Newspapers in India reported it as a business meeting.
Trump has registered eight new companies in Saudi Arabia. At an Alabama rally last year Trump said: “Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million.”
Separately, in June 2001, Trump sold the 45th floor of Trump Tower to the Saudi royal family for $4.5 million, space that was later converted to the Saudi Mission to the United Nations, according to the New York Daily News.