A Washington-based nonprofit ethics group on Monday said that it will file a federal lawsuit against the United States President Donald Trump for allegedly violating the Constitution by allowing his business operations to accept payment from foreign governments.
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The ethics watchdog comprises of prominent constitutional scholars, Supreme Court litigatos and former White House ethics lawyers. The group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) on Sunday night announced that it is preparing a suit "to stop President Trump from violating the Constitution by illegally receiving payments from foreign governments."
Trump, before taking the office, had refused to run his business. He had said that his sons will run his business for him, while he is in office. He had also added that they will not conduct any foreign deals and will subject any domestic deals to an ethics review. However, it is the first week of Trump's presidency and he has not taken a decision about his business and its association with foreign funding yet.
CREW said that it will file the lawsuit in the Southern District of New York at 9 a.m. on Monday.
"We did not want to get to this point. It was our hope that President Trump would take the necessary steps to avoid violating the Constitution before he took office. He did not. His constitutional violations are immediate and serious, so we were forced to take legal action," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said.
The group added that since Trump has not entirely separated from his business, he is "now getting cash and favours from foreign governments, through guests and events at his hotels, leases in his buildings, and valuable real estate deals abroad."
"President Trump has made his slogan 'America First. So you would think he would want to strictly follow the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause, since it was written to ensure our government officials are thinking of Americans first, and not foreign governments," Bookbinder added.
However, Trump's lawyer, Sheri Dillon had recently said that US President will not be in violation of the Constitution's "Emoluments Clause" under the business plan as "paying for a hotel room is not a gift and has nothing to to with an office."
The CREW although has said that Trump business involves dealing with various countries including China, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines. "Now that he is President, his company's acceptance of any benefits from the governments of those countries violates the Constitution."
The watchdog also warned that "When Trump the president sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump the businessman."
The suit will not seek any monetary damages and will ask a New York federal court to order Trump to stop taking payments from foreign government entities.
