Who can blame people who wildly enjoyed the TV series, The Sopranos, all of the Godfather movies, and many more similar productions? Then, Donald Trump descended upon the White House with his tough-guy, semi-mob attitude just over a year ago. Still, this is no movie, no TV show. It is real, and it is wrong.
President Barack Obama’s White House ethics czar, former Ambassador to Prague, and senior fellow at the respected Brookings Institute tweeted about a serious Trump crime:
‘This is a violation of the Emoluments Clause. A big one. See you in court Mr. Trump.’
Why would Eisen tweet that? The Chinese government will likely hand Trump’s $500 million to finance the president’s huge Indonesian real estate project, according to The South China Morning Post. The Trump name will be all over hotels and a golf courses for the billion-dollar resort and theme park.
What does “emoluments” mean? It is a clause in the U.S. Constitution that forbids elected officials from financially benefiting from their elected positions. Trump has blatantly disregarded it.
President George W. Bush’s chief ethics attorney, Richard Painter, said he “would have advised” the sitting president to sell all of his holdings related to this project.
Trump backed way off of his criticism of China’s trade policies with the U.S.. He tweeted that he was involved with Chinese President Xi Jinping to support a Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, which is basically government-owned and operated.
The U.S. banned the company for violating our sanctions on Iran, but that did not stop 45. Apparently, his project started in 2015, but it has continued well into the current presidency.
Featured Image via Getty Images/John W. Adkisson.