So much else is going on it’s easy to overlook the steady progress of a court case that goes directly after President Trump and his company.
This week a federal judge let it go forward. The lawsuit, brought by Maryland and Washington D.C. officials, alleges Trump is violating the Constitution by continuing to do business with foreign governments. It claims Trump’s status as president gives him an unfair competitive advantage, allowing him to exert influence on spending for meetings, conventions and other events at his properties.
By refusing to divest himself of his sprawling real estate business Trump is open to legal exposure under the Constitution for profits gained from foreign governments at his hotels, golf courses, etc.
“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, 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.” — Article I of the Constitution.
U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte, who had earlier ruled the plaintiffs have standing to sue Trump, ruled on Wednesday that a legal definition of “emolument” means “any ‘profit,’ ‘gain,’ or ‘advantage,’” and stated that this definition could include foreign government payments to Trump properties. It is the first time a federal judge defined these constitutional provisions.
“Sole or substantial ownership of a business that receives hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars a year in revenue from one of its hotel properties where foreign and domestic governments are known to stay (often with the express purpose of cultivating the President’s good graces) most definitely raises the potential for undue influence, and would be well within the contemplation of the Clauses.” — Judge Messitte.
The ruling, likely to end up in the Supreme Court for final resolution, opens the way for others who can prove standing to challenge profits from other Trump businesses.
“no Person holding any Office … shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument”
a constitutional kicker are those 6 little words “without the Consent of the Congress” considering that this congress is likely to consent to anything the twit wants
jack, looks like the guardian is in your back yard making all sorts of claims…
They thought this was Trump country. Hell no
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders visited Wichita, Kansas, to woo progressives in support of congressional candidate James Thompson. Is the red state ready to turn blue?
[…]
No congressional candidate has ever done what Thompson is doing in this era of unrestricted corporate campaign donations: hold a progressive sword at the precise geographic heart of the dark-money beast. When I asked whether anyone has, say, tried to break his kneecaps, Thompson let out a big laugh.
“I’d like to see them try,” he said. “That’s one good thing about being 6’2.”
Such humor – joking in a manner that polite society might view as unseemly – is the necessary roughness that millions of Americans develop to survive on job sites, in barrooms, in their own homes while the air conditioning window unit drips water onto the carpet.
It only makes sense that a progressive movement unifying the working class across lines of race, gender, age, religion and location would contain candidates like Thompson, who is both a civil rights attorney who represented detained immigrants and victims of police brutality and a former bouncer at a Wichita country-western nightclub called InCahoots [sic].
BW, the guardian is also covering new mexico today
‘Congress has never heard a voice like mine’: Native American woman seeks to make election history
Deb Haaland, the former New Mexico state Democratic party chair who is seeking to make history as the first Native American woman elected to Congress, had just one question before running: could she win?
Yes, she thought, she absolutely could.
“As a 35th-generation New Mexican, I felt I had a lot at stake,” Haaland said in an interview at a coffee shop near the US Capitol in Washington. “So I decided to run.”
Haaland is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna tribe and one of a record number of Native American women running for office this year. None have served in Congress – and the possibility of a landmark election is galvanizing voters in New Mexico.
“Congress has never heard a voice like mine,” Haaland says in a campaign ad that emphasizes her working-class background and progressive platform.
Last month, she soundly defeated five Democratic opponents to win the primary for an open congressional seat in a district that includes Albuquerque, the state’s largest city.
In November, she will face the Republican Janice Arnold-Jones, a former state lawmaker, and Lloyd Princeton, a Libertarian candidate, in a general election race that is expected to center on immigration, healthcare – and Donald Trump.
“Trump has given many people the courage to be bold in their racism. He gives the white supremacists and the far-right folks cause to be,” she said.
The president, Haaland says, is completely ignorant of Native Americans’ place in the country’s history. His repeated attacks on the Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren, whom he mockingly refers to as “Pocahontas”, are “disgusting and disgraceful”, she said. At a recent rally in Montana, Trump mused that he might “toss” a DNA test at the Massachusetts senator, challenging her claims to Native American ancestry.
“First of all, he doesn’t get to decide who’s native,” Haaland said. “And it is extremely disrespectful for him to continue to use the name Pocahontas as a racial slur.”
But she said Trump’s policies, even more than his words, posed an urgent threat to Native American land and traditions. Haaland pointed to the administration’s plan to enforce Medicaid work requirements for Native Americans, a move that tribal leaders say would restrict access to healthcare and undermine their sovereignty. She is also alarmed by the administration’s decision to shrink national monuments and roll back federal land protections.
[….continues about her background and other things…]
business insider:
President Donald Trump’s legal troubles with his former lawyer Michael Cohen took another, damaging twist on Thursday when Michael Avenatti, the attorney for porn star Stormy Daniels, alleged that multiple women had been paid off, and that Trump may even have covered up a pregnancy.
“Donald Trump conspired with Michael Cohen to pay off multiple other women prior to Election Day in 2016. They were also concerned about a pregnancy. Cohen has evidence and info in his possession and it must be released to the public,” Avenatti tweeted .
[….continues…]
Was that alleged pregnancy terminated? That would be the end of Twit. It’s the only line his base won’t cross.
Removal from office due to mental illness, emoluments, a lightning strike while he’s playing golf…any of them will do the job.
When Trumpsky loses traction with his base, watch the Russian-owned Critterz start to scramble & walk back their propping up of the great, white dope.
Explosive detonated at the US embassy in Beijing https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/26/asia/beijing-us-embassy-china-intl/index.html
I’ll bet Trumpsky is jealous of the way China quickly wipes news reports.
Audio expert analyzes secret Trump-Cohen tape https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/politics/audio-expert-trump-cohen-tape/index.html
I didn’t need an expert to analyze the tape. I know what I heard. Trumpsky wanted to pay with cash to make it/her go away. That’s what I heard.
Putin gave Trump a soccer ball that may have a transmitter chip https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/politics/trump-putin-soccer-ball-chip-transmitter/index.html
But, could Putie have replaced the standard advertising chip with something else?
Trump’s Walk of Fame star was smashed to pieces https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/politics/trump-walk-of-fame-star-smash/index.html
Melania Trump will watch ‘any channel she wants,’ spokeswoman says https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/25/politics/melania-trump-channel/index.html
Ha! Hubby can’t have the remote on AF1
The ruling, likely to end up in the Supreme Court for final resolution, opens the way for others who can prove standing to challenge profits from other Trump businesses.
Alriiiiiight…. keep the lawsuits coming!
serve the freedom caucus crazies right if their impeach Rosenstein bill got amended to include trump
strange happening just now. in response to BiD’s comment about the twit’s base leaving him, have been trying to post (3 times) about Russia’s standing in the world of abortion… second only to china according to wiki… and it’s prevalence as the birth control preference of Russian women according to an article last fall in foreign policy. each time the post has been zapped. will see if this one goes thru without the links and quoted excerpt.
okay, they must not like the links.
BiD, I used to think too that his base would leave him at news of paid preggie termination and my response was to note that they seem to have embraced and adore everything Russian even tho’ it’s a major abort-er.
nice run down on helpfulness of tape from politico article
Michael Cohen’s Tape Is Trouble for Trump
Take it from an ex-prosecutor: Prosecutors love recordings. Unfortunately for the president, so do juries.
[….]
Third, this tape could corroborate any possible allegation that the president and Cohen conspired to conceal an in-kind contribution to the campaign from AMI. And if Cohen cooperates, he would be what I would call a fabulous “prologue, real time, and epilogue” witness: He could describe events leading up to the day of the tape; explain the nuance and context of parts of the tape that seem ambiguous (“David,” “cash,” “check” and “it’s all the stuff”); and events taken after the taped conversation. All invaluable help to a prosecutor in any kind of case.
Fourth, there is no doubt that investigators will get the best audio experts to decipher who said what and when on the tape. The evidentiary analysis will be highly captivating and illuminating to a jury.
Fifth and last, Cohen’s words (“I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up”) and the president’s calm reaction (“So, what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?”) on tape brings us new leads, and a possible subject or witness: the long-time financial wizard for the president and even for his late father Fred Trump: Trump Organization CFO Weisselberg. Imagine what that guy knows; he could be a wealth of information and corroborate Cohen’s description of the coincidental amount of “150,” the “thing” and the “this.” No one wants investigators to be talking to their decades-long financial planner, who may know where the monetary bodies are buried. This last point is clearly not good for the president, as it may open up the possibility that the president’s still-unpublished tax returns (or other financial records) could possibly be fair game for analysis and review by agents. In the end, Giuliani is dead wrong that the David Tape is “exculpatory” as it relates to the president; for prosecutors, it’s a potential mother lode.
[…continues…]
SFB knows there’s exposure. His company has tried to minimize the threat by claiming that it is going to donate all the profits from the TIDC Olde Post Office Resort and Brothel to charity. OK, let’s see the tax returns to see if it was deducted last year.
And the Tour begins to wind down. Flat, fast and HOT stage today, Mountain stage tomorrow and individual time trial Saturday, so there is still the possibility of a move by a challenger before the ceremonial last stage ending on the streets of Paris Sunday, but I think the podium is set. Been a fun ride.
…kinda disheartening that the darling of the Democratic party is someone who beat another Democrat, in a primary.
”bink & pogo, am ever looking for that “climate change to be demonstrable” bullet to get to the attention of the public at large” -patd
…none so blind. If half the world burning won’t convince them, nothing will. Conservatives take pride in their disdain for the Tour De France, anyway- best not to bring it up to them, from my experience.
As far as “emoluments”, Conservatives admire criminals and thieves, as long as such crooks have white skin. They’d rather impeach adminstrators of justice, instead.
Renee, the “others who can prove standing” is a much higher bar than most folks understand when it comes to suing a federal official or the government. Standing, in general terms, is provided by statute in some cases (not in this case) or by a showing that the alleged wrongdoing caused actual harm to the plaintiff. Maybe Marriott would have standing??? It’s a difficult threshold to cross – for instance taxpayers do not have standing to sue the government (federal or state) in federal court for misuse of federal tax revenues unless it is through unconstitutional spending. But you can sue your town.
Well, the train overtook the challengers with 12 km left in the stage – nothing will change today.
A real-life Russian agent infiltrated the NRA with sex and people hardly even batted an eye, because it is just another week in this, The Year of Our Satan, 2018.
On CNN last night they released an audio tape of Donald Trump talking to his former lawyer Michael Cohen. The tape was recorded covertly by Cohen – two months before the election. On the tape, they discuss paying off a former Playboy model named Karen McDougal – with whom the President allegedly had an affair for about a year. When you hear Trump and Cohen talk, it does feel like they’re drug dealers or characters out of a mobster movie and since we only have the audio with no video, we decided to give this tape the Hollywood treatment. With that, here are some scenes from the new movie ‘The Don.’
wapo:
House Speaker Ryan says he opposes conservative effort to impeach Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel probe on Russia
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said Thursday that he supports an effort by conservative lawmakers to impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, calling it “leverage” to get the Justice Department to provide Congress with more documents related to the Russia probe.
[…continues…]
also at wapo today:
The articles of impeachment against Rod Rosenstein, annotated
the guardian
Senior members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) met the wife of the Russian billionaire who allegedly gave financial support to a woman accused of being a secret agent for Moscow in the US.
The NRA members met Svetlana Nikolaeva, who is the head of a gun company that supplies sniper rifles to the Russian military and intelligence services, during a trip to Moscow during the 2016 election campaign.
Nikolaeva’s husband, Konstantin Nikolaev, allegedly provided funding to Maria Butina, a young Russian woman charged with carrying out an illicit spying operation in Washington. Nikolaev reportedly once invested in his wife’s gun company.
The finding sheds further light on the links forged in recent years between America’s powerful gun lobby and well-connected Russians. US prosecutors allege Butina’s activities were directed by Alexander Torshin, a senior Russian state banker and an NRA member.
[…continues….]
We do not care about voters who might vote for us if I contort my views. I do care about everyone who would vote for me if they show up.
I’ve paraphrased this a bit but essentially this is the story of the Democratic candidate for gov in Georgia. And generally, I think that is the path for successful Democratic candidates. She is making herself more attractive to her voters. The Democratic Platform is progressive and Democrats should be proud to run on it.
People who are dissing Pelosi and the current platform as “too out there” are people I would not vote for (unless they were running against Trump) And they are wrong. The candidates who have been successful in Democratic primaries are progressive and they have run on local issues. Even the Pa guy who everyone pretended is a Republican is more progressive then Steny Hoyer.
We are the majority and we are not Republicans (wouldn’t that be dreadful)
I hope SJ is sitting lakeside having a great cocktail. I miss that delusional view of today.
Not sure if this is a telling turn that makes a difference but this tweet by Howard Fineman reflects a hardening among media elites, pretty much a declaration of war:
national russkie association.
nefarious russkie association.
nefarious russkie agitprop.
curious that more wasn’t made of putin’s candid acknowledgement of directing intrusion in u.s. election by answering “Yes I did ” to the “And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?” question. that was far more telling of sovereign violation than admitting to merely wanting the twit to win….
the hill: White House corrects official transcript to reflect Putin saying he wanted Trump to win
[….]
Several reports noted in recent days that the official transcript did not include the first part of a question to Putin by Reuters reporter Jeff Mason, who asked if the Russian president wanted Trump to win. Instead, it only read: “And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that?”
Putin responded to the question by acknowledging he wanted Trump to win.
“Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal,” he said.
Ten days after the press conference, the transcript has been updated to include the full question.
Update: The White House has now corrected its official transcript of the Helsinki presser: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-president-putin-russian-federation-joint-press-conference/ …
6:26 AM – 26 Jul 2018
The Wall Street Journal
1 hour ago · Allen Weisselberg, a longtime financial gatekeeper for President Donald Trump, has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in the criminal probe of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, according to people familiar with the investigation.
I dunno for sure Pat, but when I watched the Trump/Putin press conference live, and the replays, I really don’t think Putin heard the second part of that question — “did you direct”. I noticed the reporter who asked the question later said he wasn’t sure the second part was heard. Putin just not dumb enough to answer that in the affirmative. Think he only meant to say he preferred Trump. Certainly doesn’t excuse the White House edits, tho.
Craig, no matter what Feinman may do, I think it will pale in comparison with George Will’s shedding of Trump, along with his sycophants, as if their combined mass were nothing more or less than drums of fetid shit reminiscent of the barrels of crap that we burned behind our latrines in Vietnam.
Yep, Flatus. Combine Will and Fineman, and you’ve got journalists on the right and left in this mode. One thing I’ve seen through the years, as much as Americans gripe, bitch and moan about the media most do not react well when politicians overtly try to restrict free press.
politicususa:
Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg has been subpoenaed to testify in the federal investigation into Michael Cohen, as Trump’s former lawyer is burning it all to the ground.
The Wall Street Journal reported, “Allen Weisselberg, a longtime financial gatekeeper for President Donald Trump, has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in the criminal probe of Mr. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, according to people familiar with the investigation. Mr. Weisselberg is considered a witness in the investigation, the people said. It isn’t known whether he has already appeared before the grand jury or what questions prosecutors of New York’s Southern District have had for him. The date of the subpoena couldn’t be determined.”
craig, why then would the white house delay so long in correcting their transcript mistake. seems that would have been one of the first things to have caught their eye…. putin admitting to directing the meddling
are they that incompetent
It’s about time that the press finally understands that trumpco is trying to destroy them. No… it’s not just rhetoric when he calls the media “the enemy of the people”… it’s war goddammit!
It’s so weird seeing the likes of George Will, Bill Krystal, and Steve Schmidt hammering away at the administration… but thank god they are.
It’s like stalin saying, “I like Ike.”
Pat, I’ve no doubt they doctored that transcript on purpose.
Yeah, it’s confusing……Bill Kristol sounding like a halfway decent fellow……it’s twisting my convolutions…….
Sagan – tough man. He needed another jolt of caffine and Coke-cola. No matter, he will be on the podium.
Too many meetings, I don’t get a break to go off and catch up on the news. From what I gather, the “virgin” and never under the plastic surgeons knife, Ms. Kushie, gives up. No one wants her slave labor produced xrap. Tough toenails.
Unhinged. Lost in space. SFB. Do not let the media normalize the creature. I want to hear him scream when frog marched out of the WH, a place he has sullied and made useless.
Good grief, it is Thursday.
Seems the farmers finally got his attention. At least for a moment. He will give them the best treatment they deserve.
There are only two, 2, things SFB cares about – sex and money. That is it. Power is in his head. He will be sitting in his cell in Florence, Colorado, staring at the walls (twenty-three hours each day) and think he is leading the military parade down the Champs-Elysées to the cheers of a hundred loyal ass wipers.
Mueller seems to be narrowing in on some one in the WH. Hmm. I wonder who?
Weasleberg subpeonaed!
“Maybe he gets hit by a bus………” Wait, what?
NYT: Mueller looking through Trump’s tweets https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/26/politics/trump-twitter-mueller/index.html
Oh, please let it be Twit’s own tweets that take him down!
It’s not quite time for photographers to gather at the Blair House side of the tunnel.
Is it me, or has George Will not aged in the last 30 years?
Pat
outside of college towns their aren’t many progressives in Kansas. Right now the Democratic party in Kansas is centered around college intellectuals and the minority neighborhoods in Wyandotte county, Wichita and Topeka. The only counties that didn’t go Trump was Douglas county, home of KU and Wyndotte county/ Kansas City , Kansas.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders progressive road show did more harm than good as it reminded the Suburban Republicans in Johnson county (ks 3rd dist)just what it is they hate about the national Democratic party. I thought there was a chance a centrist coalition building Dem could win, but looking at all the left wing red meat being thrown around by the Democratic candidates I think it stays solidly Republican.
Jack
Mr Bink,
george will has a repulsive portrait in the attic.