Donald Trump isn’t used to being checked, but checked he is being. Not only by the press, but also the Republican-led Congress, which at times manages to offer faltering, feeble but noticeable attempts to serve as a check and balance to the Republican president.
Today is one of those days, as the House Oversight Committee follows up on Trump’s supposed plan to get around his Emolument Clause violations after “recent news accounts have reported that the Trump Organization may have received payments from foreign government sources since President Trump’s inauguration.â€
It’s bipartisan.
Reps. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Elijah E. Cummings (D-MD), the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote a letter Friday demanding information about the Trump organization’s plans to donate profits of foreign government payments to the U.S. Treasury.
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In the letter to attorney Sheri A. Dillon, the Representatives requested information about the Trump organization’s plans to hire an ethics officer and chief compliance officer to prevent violating the Emoluments Clause, citing the January 11, 2017 press conference during which Dillon announced Trump’s plans to donate profits of foreign government payments to the U.S. Treasury.
Read the full letter by clicking here: 2017-04-21 JEC EEC to Dillon – Trump Emoluments Plan
Donald Trump is used to saying something and having that be the last word. Anyone who disagreed or checked him was harassed until they shut up. But now that he’s President, those days are over.
While Trump has made a laughing stock out of the normal code of ethics for sitting presidents, he won’t escape without being held accountable by the people of the this country.
In polls, a majority of the people consistently express their desire for more transparency from this president. Transparency is not a good story and some props. Transparency would look like open visitor logs, a clear and proper separation from his business interests, the release of his tax returns, and more.
Donald Trump needs to put up or shut up about his conflicts of interest. This letter is one step forward in the long road to accountability.
Update 2:56: Corrected letter written Thursday to the correct day of Friday
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Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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