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https://thinkprogress.org/trump-poi...hs-ethics-lawyer-says-73e14789a935#.o2hvunmya

Much more at the jump above.

Friday evening, the Washington Post reported that about 100 foreign diplomats gathered at President-elect Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, DC to “to sip Trump-branded champagne, dine on sliders and hear a sales pitch about the U.S. president-elect’s newest hotel.” The tour included a look at the hotel’s $20,000 a night “town house” suite. The Post also quoted some of the diplomats saying they intended to stay at the hotel in order to ingratiate themselves to the incoming president.

“Why wouldn’t I stay at his hotel blocks from the White House, so I can tell the new president, ‘I love your new hotel!’” said one diplomat from an Asian nation. “Isn’t it rude to come to his city and say, ‘I am staying at your competitor?’”

In an exclusive exchange with ThinkProgress, Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who previously served as chief ethics counsel to President George W. Bush, says that Trump’s efforts to do business with these diplomats is at odds with a provision of the Constitution intended to prevent foreign states from effectively buying influence with federal officials.

The Constitution’s “Emoluments Clause,” provides that “no 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.”

The diplomats’ efforts in seek Trump’s favor by staying in his hotel “looks like a gift,” Painter told ThinkProgress in an email, and thus is the very kind of favor the Constitution seeks to prevent.

 

[Darryl M R]

Insightful and brings up some thoughts I haven't heard brought up before.

He doesn't need a salary when he has his hotel down the street. Of course you're going to be willing to pay 20,000 a night for your meeting with him.

 

[RustyNails]

Everyone knew this before election. Media failed to investigate and hold Trump campaign accountable. Now it doesnt even register on the shitquake richter scale.

 

[CHC]

I mean, yeah, the egregiously obvious conflicts of interest were visible from miles away, but lo and behold here we are. Who is expected to do anything about this?

The GOP is a spineless fucking puddle and they run... the whole show at this point. Trump has proven that if you just ignore criticisms or conventions and forge ahead, eventually everyone will just move on. Which is shameful.

And this won't be on the news for more than five minutes. They'll get one guy who claims it an ethics violation (which it obviously is) and then another guy who says it isn't, then let them have equal time to talk. Too afraid to present viewers with any kind of message, the journalists will simply move on.

 

[Slayven]

If I was crazy, maybe the GOP keeps this shit in their back pocket for some Batman preptime to get rid of Trump. If I was crazy

 

[WiiredShawn]

Part of me wishes that Trump would be slapped with impeachment almost immediately just 'cause he's such a shitty person.

Part of me wishes that an impeachment would deal a blow to the righteous conviction of all his alt-right supporters.

Part of me is afraid that his supporters would simply hold him as a martyr. And then we're still stuck with Pence, who is a known, and primarily shitty, quantity.

I don't know what is less bad: Keeping Trump around and hoping that he might go against GOP leadership and do something useful; or getting rid of Trump and hoping that Pence doesn't roll back all social progress.

 

[Hatty]

I don't expect Trump to follow rules

 

[Crayon]

And this won't be on the news for more than five minutes. They'll get one guy who claims it an ethics violation (which it obviously is) and then another guy who says it isn't, then let them have equal time to talk. Too afraid to present viewers with any kind of message, the journalists will simply move on.

The fucked up thing is that there is some good news sources out there but it gets drowned by corporate media.

It's like we need a way to crank up the volume on decent news sources. You are more likely to learn something from a documentary than the tv news these days. I can see why people turn to fake news: because fox and cnn are a circus.

 

[Aztechnology]

Part of me wishes that Trump would be slapped with impeachment almost immediately just 'cause he's such a shitty person.

Part of me wishes that an impeachment would deal a blow to the righteous conviction of all his alt-right supporters.

Part of me is afraid that his supporters would simply hold him as a martyr. And then we're still stuck with Pence, who is a known, and primarily shitty, quantity.

I don't know what is less bad: Keeping Trump around and hoping that he might go against GOP leadership and do something useful; or getting rid of Trump and hoping that Pence doesn't roll back all social progress.

I thought the same thing. But I think the blow would be worth it. Generally Trump doesn't seem to have any interesting in actually running, governing or doing anything outside of benefitting himself and letting the party run wild. They're running the show anyway, why not take off the mask.

 

[Plaguefox]

Wont an impeachment just lead to a President Pence?

Would a President Pence really, really be worse than a President Trump? With how inscrutable Trump's myriad and conflicting promises have been, how could we really know?

 

[Rebel Leader]

Would a President Pence really, really be worse than a President Trump? With how inscrutable Trump's myriad and conflicting promises have been, how could we really know?

At least pence won't fire nukes just cause he can. And he does believe in climate change

But that's all i like about him

 

[Cagey]

Would a President Pence really, really be worse than a President Trump? With how inscrutable Trump's myriad and conflicting promises have been, how could we really know?

A Pence administration would be competent evil.

A Trump administration would be incompetent and corrupt with high potential for evil based on who else is in the administration.

On the bright side a Pence administration would be far less invigorating for voters in a 2020 reelection bid?

 

[Lord Frieza]

At least pence won't fire nukes just cause he can. And he does believe in climate change

But that's all i like about him

Pence believes in climate change? I find that so hard to believe

 

[Gutek]

Pence believes in climate change? I find that so hard to believe

He does. I know, it's weird.

 

[Geist-]

A Pence administration would be competent evil.

A Trump administration would be incompetent and corrupt with high potential for evil based on who else is in the administration.

On the bright side a Pence administration would be far less invigorating for voters in a 2020 reelection bid?

Trump could still win in 2020. Pence would have a very hard time recreating the same miracle that led to Trump's victory.

That's why I'm hoping for a Trump Impeachment sooner rather than later.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Pence believes in climate change? I find that so hard to believe

I should have put "or so he says."


"Well, look, there's no question that the activities that take place in this country and in countries around the world have some impact on the environment and some impact on climate."

 

[Eusis]

I actually would sooner believe the inverse: most DO recognize climate change, they just don't care or don't want to piss off their base/donors.

Which might be even worse.

 

[PsihoPerihelion]

I can't wait until this motherfucker is impeached.

 

[Jeels]

So what does he have to do for checks and balances to kick in? Who triggers the impeachment? If it has to be the Republican Congress, there's no way it's happening. And we already know half of America will turn a blind eye.

 

[Man Called Aerodynamics]

Good thing the media was warning everybody about this months ago. Oh wait.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

So what does he have to do for checks and balances to kick in? Who triggers the impeachment? If it has to be the Republican Congress, there's no way it's happening. And we already know half of America will turn a blind eye.

Either some big scandal with hard evidence that causes dissent to reach a fever pitch or some really bad foreign relations gaffe.

 

[Ponn]

I don't care nearly as much about his stupid hotel as I do about the blatant idiocy of signing over his business to his kids and then turning around and trying to get his kids into his national security meetings and maybe even cabinet positions. Its like, why did you bother signing over your business in the first damn place. Anyone could see he was never going to avoid conflicts of interest. Of course he's going to abuse the damn system, he's a businessman.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

I don't care nearly as much about his stupid hotel as I do about the blatant idiocy of signing over his business to his kids and then turning around and trying to get his kids into his national security meetings and maybe even cabinet positions. Its like, why did you bother signing over your business in the first damn place. Anyone could see he was never going to avoid conflicts of interest. Of course he's going to abuse the damn system, he's a businessman.

I still can't believe that a significant amount of people think that Donald Trump is going to be the messiah that rids Washington of corruption. Like, how fucking immensely stupid could you be?

 

[Balphon]

So what does he have to do for checks and balances to kick in? Who triggers the impeachment? If it has to be the Republican Congress, there's no way it's happening. And we already know half of America will turn a blind eye.

The House begins the process. The impeachment "trial" is in the Senate.

You'd need some pretty colossal pressure on Congress for it to happen. Like thousands of people marching on Washington every weekend colossal. This type of graft, obvious as it may be, isn't likely to motivate that.

 

[Lord Frieza]

So what does he have to do for checks and balances to kick in? Who triggers the impeachment? If it has to be the Republican Congress, there's no way it's happening. And we already know half of America will turn a blind eye.

The only way I see an impeachment happening in the first term is if something really fucking crazy comes out with hard proof (like literal proof Trump is taking marching orders from Putin) or if Trump tries to govern more than expected and hinders the GOP with pushing policies they don't want while vettoing ones they do and it's decided he needs to go.

 

[WiiredShawn]

I still can't believe that a significant amount of people think that Donald Trump is going to be the messiah that rids Washington of corruption. Like, how fucking immensely stupid could you be?

"Strict Father Morality" might play a role in this mentality.

 

[Future]

I still can't believe that a significant amount of people think that Donald Trump is going to be the messiah that rids Washington of corruption. Like, how fucking immensely stupid could you be?

I think people are ok with corruption in business or ways to get ahead off the books. You can relate to that

Once the first scandal hits of trump being swayed by outside forces, then people will turn on him

 

[Breads]

Look at all this truth. Didn't yall get the memo?

We post truth now.

 

[Xe4]

Everyone knew this before election. Media failed to investigate and hold Trump campaign accountable. Now it doesnt even register on the shitquake richter scale.

It still blows my mind the double standards Trump was given. They spent just as much, if not more time talking about the emails and Clinton Foundation than Trump's numerous flaws. How the fuck anyone thought those two were on any sort of comparable level at all is beyond me.

WaPo, NYT, and a few other print papers did a good job. The rest, and especially cable news bungled the coverage of the election big time.

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

I think people are ok with corruption in business or ways to get ahead off the books. You can relate to that

Once the first scandal hits of trump being swayed by outside forces, then people will turn on him

Like Russia helping influence the election?

 

[You Know Nothing]

But let's talk about Hillary's innocuous emails some more.

Most MSM really is trash but for entirely different reasons than the Trumpkins think.

 

[Aaronology]

Hoping for impeachment seems to be sourced from the same faith in other people that led many of us to believe Americans would never back Trump in enough numbers to elect him. To quote a former President who I am finding myself with much more respect for in this post 11/8 world:

“There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”​

Assume Trump won't be impeached. Assume no one in the GOP will feel sufficient pressure from their own conscience or that of their constituents to oppose him. Assume many of the people who voted for him won't give a crap about anything he does that's worthy of impeachment either out of apathy, ignorance or diet sociopathy. Proceed from there. Plan for the worst and don't even bother trusting America, its citizens or elected officials to not gallop down the most deleterious path available.

I think people are ok with corruption in business or ways to get ahead off the books. You can relate to that

Once the first scandal hits of trump being swayed by outside forces, then people will turn on him

I wager you're going to be disappointed.

 

[Red]

Quite a few Trump supporters I've talked to have mentioned this as a positive. Far from a conflict of interest, they see this as a way to prevent him from relying on political bribes and being influenced by outside parties. They cite his promised $1 income as president as evidence he is committed to remaining scandal-free. "He doesn't need political money, he's his own man."

 

[WiiredShawn]

Quite a few Trump supporters I've talked to have mentioned this as a positive. Far from a conflict of interest, they see this as a way to prevent him from relying on political bribes and being influenced by outside parties. They cite his promised $1 income as president as evidence he is committed to remaining scandal-free. "He doesn't need political money, he's his own man."

Because we all know that rich people stop hoarding money after a certain point of richness. No person has ever exploited opportunities for financial gain after they're already loaded. /s

I've seen this logic, too, and it is infuriatingly simple-minded. They've just convinced themselves that because he's rich, he's immune to influence. When it's like, c'mon, Donald Trump has tons of rich friends. You think he'll help Joe Schmoe in Wyoming before he helps them? His priorities have always been to bolster himself and his family. Why would he refrain from doing so now, especially when opportunities are laid at his feet?

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

He does. I know, it's weird.

Mike "He Never Said That" Pence

 

[Lkr]

I know we are all worried about trump, but I'm disappointed that no one pointed out the fact that it was an ethics lawyer that worked out for GWB. You know shit is looking bad when you long for the days of having a war criminal as the president

 

[platakul]

on Pence v Trump,

IMO a trump impeachment would depress GOP turnout severely in 2020 and HOPEFULLY a champ like Warren could sail into the white house

maybe
idk

 

[GameAddict411]

Corruption will definitely increase when Trump and the GOP take over. People should brace for the worse 8 years ahead of us. Civil rights and protections progress in the last 50 years are in jeopardy and things like these will only be minor issues unfortunately. People still elected Trump even after finding out about the sexual assault and other shady things about Trump. This won't do anything.

 

[Blader]

Congressional Republicans are, by and large, spineless cowards who abdicated all trace of moral courage this year. Don't hold your breath for any impeachment for any reason.

 

[Davide]

Corruption will definitely increase when Trump and the GOP take over. People should brace for the worse 8 years ahead of us.

Are you expecting him to last 8 years?

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Assume Trump won't be impeached. Assume no one in the GOP will feel sufficient pressure from their own conscience or that of their constituents to oppose him. Assume many of the people who voted for him won't give a crap about anything he does that's worthy of impeachment either out of apathy, ignorance or diet sociopathy. Proceed from there. Plan for the worst and don't even bother trusting America, its citizens or elected officials to not gallop down the most deleterious path available.

^^^

And I might add don't hold your breath waiting on mainstream television media to hold Trump or the GOP's feet to the fire.

 

[XenodudeX]

Are you expecting him to last 8 years?

Unless the economy implodes or some huge scandal breaks out, he's going to be pretty difficult to get out of office. Democrats are useless, so turn out will be low just like this year.

 

[digdug2k]

If the House couldn't impeach Obama with their completely irrational hatred of him, they won't do it for Trump, who I'm guessing a shitload of them love.

 

[Blader]

Unless the economy implodes or some huge scandal breaks out, he's going to be pretty difficult to get out of office. Democrats are useless, so turn out will be low just like this year.

When you put it that way, 2020 is looking pretty good!

 

[GameAddict411]

Are you expecting him to last 8 years?

"Trump running for President? LMAO" Some of the reaction when he announced that he was running. Now he is president. The media and this board in general is out of touch with a huge part of America that feels left behind. They holding on to everything they have got and hate change. They will vote for Trump on 2020 just like they voted for him this year. The only way that it ends earlier is if he ends up doing something that might impeach him(even still, the GOP domination in other branches of government will save him), or the Democrats get it together and put forward a very strong candidate. Both of those are not likely to happen. I was dreaming of the GOP going to irrelevancy after this election, but oh god I was so wrong. They are stronger than ever and the future of this country looks quite grim if you are not white, and straight.

 

[GameAddict411]

Congressional Republicans are, by and large, spineless cowards who abdicated all trace of moral courage this year. Don't hold your breath for any impeachment for any reason.

Also this^^^

 

[EatinOlives]

Trump will bring corruption to new heights. Watch him as he funnels untold amounts of money through countless channels into his own coffers.

And yet a little less than half of this country thought he was less corrupt than Clinton.

 

[XenodudeX]

When you put it that way, 2020 is looking pretty good!

 

[royalan]

Every major news source that ignored obvious shit like this in order to chance the Big Fat Nothing of Clinton's emails should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

 

[Unknown One]

This election showed how incompetent this country is as a whole. The GOP, Democrats, media, internet social media, and the people looked extremely foolish.