I'm just like George Washington says Trump as he rejects Maryland and D.C.'s stealth bid to get his tax returns and other claims he's breaching Emoluments Clause
- Attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia are filing suit Monday against President Trump for violating the Constitution
- The Constitution's Emoluments Clause states that no federal office holder shall 'accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever' from a foreign state
- Trump maintains control of his business empire, which is now being run by his adult sons
- Government lawyers in a related suit argued that George Washington exported wheat and corn meal to Europe and engaged in other transactions while serving as president
Government lawyers are battling lawsuits that President Trump is violating the Constitution through his continued ownership of his business empire with a Revolutionary argument: George Washington did it, too.
The 'father of our country' maintained an active (slave-operated) plantation while in office, and continued to engage in some business activities while leading the nation, noted government lawyers who are defending the president against lawsuits claiming his business interests are unconstitutional.
In the latest development on the issue, the attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, D.C., prepared to file a lawsuit Monday arguing that Trump's businesses violate prohibitions on federal officeholders conducting business with a foreign state.
BUY MY WHEAT: Government lawyers, advocating for President Trump's position, argue that previous presidents engaged in commerce while holding office. Washington, for example, exported crops from Mt. Vernon
The top state law enforcement officials say among their first acts will be to demand copies of Trump's personal tax returns to evaluate his foreign business dealings, the Washington Post reported.
To counter the claim, Justice Department lawyers filed a motion Friday against a similar lawsuit from Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington – where the lawyers brought up Washington, Jefferson, Madison.
Early presidents continued to make a buck off their slave-run plantations while in office – though by the modern era, President Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm into a trust to avoid any potential conflict.
'Presidents who were plantation owners similarly continued their agriculture businesses, exporting cash crops overseas,' according to the filing, signed by five government lawyers.
Thomas Jefferson constantly struggled with debt, and continued to operate his farm and nail factory at his beloved Monticello while holding office
The government filing references presidential business dealings from another economic era, when slave-operated plantations generated income for wealthy landowners – including early presidents
EMOLUMENT? The government defended Trump's continued operation of his business, golf, hotel, and real estate empire by pointing to Jefferson's export of tobacco to Europe
'George Washington, who had left his nephew in charge of his highly successful business, required “weekly reports” from his farm managers at Mount Vernon, and responded with detailed instructions,' according to the filing.
From his presidential office (the White House hadn't been constructed yet), the nation's first president wrote up business plans, 'including those for his gristmill, from which he exported flour and cornmeal to “England, Portugal, and the island of Jamaica.”'
The filing further notes that Thomas Jefferson continued to operate his farm and nail factory at his beloved Monticello, sending tobacco to Great Britain.
Inconveniently, farm records from James Madison and James Monroe's plantations apparently have not survived. But the filing notes 'the export of farm products such as tobacco to England and elsewhere had been common since colonial times' and that Madison grew tobacco and Monroe grew timber.
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President Trump has maintained ownership of his business empire, although he transferred control to his two adult sons and an executive
President Donald J. Trump, First Lady Melania Trump return to the White House in Washington, DC, after a trip to Trump's golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey, June 11, 2017
Jefferson's Monticello doesn't even have a Par-3 golf course – but it did produce tobacco for export during his presidency
EMOLUMENT EXPERT: Madison helped draft the Constitution, and his Virginia farm grew Tobacco, which government lawyers safely assume was sold abroad
President Donald Trump crashed wedding at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, NJ this past weekend. Lawyers argue that foreign businesses could make payments through hotel bookings, apartment rentals, land sales, licenses, or other transactions that would violate the Constitution
Washington even engaged in a deal directly with the federal government, purchasing several lots of public land in what was then the territory of Columbia.
But Washington, who took great care in his reputation for probity and didn't accept a salary while leading the continental army, expressed 'no desire . . . to stand on a different footing from every other purchaser.'
The government quotes from a letter Washington wrote where he stated that his 'political conduct . . . must be exceedingly circumspect and proof against just criticism, for the Eyes of Argus are upon me, and no slip will pass unnoticed.'
The authors present no evidence that foreigners endeavored to give the presidents a sweetheart deal on their commodities exports.
The lawsuit by CREW argues that Trump has violated the Constitution through his continued holding of an empire that includes golf and real estate holdings around the country and the world, as well as a luxury hotel in Washington that attracted foreign visitors during inauguration and since Trump took office.
The suit argues that the president violates the clause whenever Trump's businesses accept 'anything of value' from a foreign state or local government.
The Emoluments Clause states: '[N]o Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States], shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.'
In just the latest demonstration of potential conflicts, the Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia spent $270,000 at Trump's D.C. hotel by reimbursing lobbyists who did work on counterterrorism legislation in 2016.
The latest suit is the first by a government entity. It charges 'unprecedented constitutional violations' and says Trump's empire is 'deeply enmeshed with a legion of foreign and domestic government actors,' according to the Post.
The effort to get Trump's tax returns, would solicit information about any undisclosed business relationships with foreigners – and offer a potential side benefit to opponents who pushed for them during the campaign. Trump broke with decades of tradition by failing to release his returns while seeking the presidency.
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