Dems take aim at Trump Doral in new lawsuit filing

Democratic lawmakers have a new target in their 2-year-old lawsuit challenging President Trump’s practice of allegedly accepting payments from foreign government officials who stay at his resorts: the Trump National Doral Miami.

In a brief filed Tuesday in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers representing congressional Democrats argue that the president’s about-face on holding the G7 summit at the struggling Miami resort is just another in a series of “increasingly brazen” violations of the constitution’s emolument’s clause.

The clause bars government officials from accepting “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State,” without the express consent of congress.

“The president should not be in effect enriching himself and profiting from the presidency,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a phone interview.

“Were seeking to hold the president accountable for his blatant violation of the premiere anti-corruption clause in the constitution, which is especially important as he seemingly becomes more and more brazen in accepting payments and benefits from foreign governments.”

The lawsuit, originally filed in the District of Columbia’s federal court in the summer of 2017, alleges that the president’s refusal to divest himself from his businesses interests and holdings, including his network of hotels and resorts, brings him into violation of the clause. The suit seeks an injunction from the courts barring the president from violating it. After U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled for the congressional plaintiffs last April, the Trump administration appealed the decision.

The White House could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Oral arguments in the dispute are scheduled for Dec. 9.