Think Progress is reporting that, Trump Organization Pressured Kuwait to Move Event to Trump Hotel. After receiving pressure from the Trump organization, the Kuwaiti Embassy moved a major event to the Trump International Hotel. Kuwait’s National Day celebration was originally scheduled to take place at the Four Seasons but will now take place at the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.
[AdSense-A]
According to Think Progress, legal experts have said that the allegations would constitute a violation of the Constitution.
In fact, Harvard Law Professor Larry Tribe Harvard Law Professor, one of the nation’s foremost constitutional scholars, called the scenario a “paradigm impeachable offense.” “If the facts are as alleged, this kind of scenario fits the paradigm impeachable offense even better than scenarios in which Trump is a wholly passive recipient of an unconstitutional foreign Emolument. Whatever one might think of purely passive acceptance of a forbidden payment, there can be no doubt that actively soliciting a forbidden Emolument is a grave abuse of executive power and thus a “high crime and misdemeanor.”
[AdSense-B]
Barack Obama’s former Chief Ethics Council Norm Eisen agreed with Tribe’s assessment. Eisen described the allegations as “shocking” and potentially civilly and criminally actionable. He is quoted as saying, “This is a perfect example of why Trump must sever from both his business interests and operations by appointing an independent trustee; otherwise, he will find himself mired in scandal. It’s bad for him, and bad for the country.” Eisen continued, saying that, prior to January 20, these kinds of activities from the Trump Organization could constitute “a tortious interference with a contract. After January 20, it could amount to criminal collusion with a government official.”
Richard Painter the Chief Ethics Counsel for George W. Bush also agreed that the alleged activity would be unconstitutional. “This is why we have the emoluments clause of the constitution and Trump will be in violation,” Painter said.
The event is scheduled to take place in late February, about a month after Trump will be sworn in as President.
In addition to the forthcoming event by the Kuwaiti Embassy, the countries of Bahrain and Azerbaijan have also held events at the Trump hotel in D.C. since Donald Trump won the election. Of course, Donald Trump promised to explain how he would handle his unprecedented conflicts of interest at a December 15 press conference, but that event has been postponed indefinitely.
