In a portion of a recent discussion with former Trump ally Michael Cohen that was highlighted by the X (formerly Twitter) user identifying themselves as Acyn, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Calif.) accused ex-President Donald Trump of violating the law with his financial dealings. Raskin singled out the many inflows of foreign money benefiting Trump’s various businesses generally around (chronologically speaking) his time in office.
One prime relay for such money that House Democrats have already highlighted was the now defunct Trump-branded hotel that operated in Washington, D.C. itself while Trump was president. Other areas of concern include foreign patronage at Trump Tower in Manhattan and, more recently, evidently Saudi Arabian government-tied payments for Trump hosting LIV Golf.
“We saw Jared Kushner bring back a cool $2 billion for a corporation he created the day after the Trump administration ended from Saudi Arabia,” Raskin remarked. “And we’ve already documented millions of dollars in unconstitutional foreign emoluments that went from governments like Saudi Arabia, like China, like Turkey, like the United Arab Emirates right into the various Trump enterprises, the hotels, the Trump Tower, the golf courses, and so on.”
The documentation associated with these financial dealings distinguishes the circumstances from the corruption allegations that House Republicans continue trying to make stick against the Bidens. Key Republicans continue to advocate for what could end up being the president’s impeachment on such claims, though it’s essentially a given that any impeachment would fail in the Senate. House Republicans have largely resisted paying serious attention to the Trump family’s variously dubious dealings.
Members of the party recently issued a subpoena for Elizabeth Naftali, who was named to a federal agency called the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. Commission members are unpaid. Republicans’ claimed interest in Naftali concerns her alleged purchase of art by Hunter Biden, the president’s son. They subpoenaed Naftali not long after a young niece of hers in Israel was taken hostage by the terror group Hamas.
Raskin: We’ve documented millions in emoluments that went from governments like Saudi Arabia, China into Trump enterprises. Trump said he wasn’t going to take a salary, that’s the only thing he’s allowed to accept, not the millions that were pouring in from foreign governments.. pic.twitter.com/htWhhpYdnm
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 25, 2023
