Saudis Paid for 500 Nights at Trump Hotel After 2016 Election Is the President of the United States being bribed by foreign governments? This is the question at the heart of several lawsuits against President Trump. The basis of the lawsuits is the section of the United States Constitution known as the Foreign Emoluments Clause, […]
Saudis Paid for 500 Nights at Trump Hotel After 2016 ElectionIs the President of the United States being bribed by foreign governments? This is the question at the heart of several lawsuits against President Trump. The basis of the lawsuits is the section of the United States Constitution known as the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which prohibits American public office holders from receiving payments from foreign countries.
Now a Washington Post article has revealed evidence of the Saudi government paying for 500 nights of stays at Trump’s Washington, D.C. hotel within three months of the November 2016 election. The emoluments lawsuits against President Trump have just gained ammunition, especially in light of the controversy over the Trump administration’s response to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey.
President Trump continues to hold interests in hotels and other properties around the world. This raises the potential for foreign governments to curry favor with the administration by patronizing Trump properties. Because of this, several lawsuits have been filed against Trump on the grounds that Trump is violating the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibit the President from receiving any emoluments from any foreign country, state, or the federal government. (The term “emolument” is generally understood to include profit or financial gain.)
Specifically, the attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia are proceeding with a lawsuit against the president, alleging that Trump is unlawfully receiving emoluments when foreign and diplomatic officials shift their business to the Trump hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. According to the lawsuits, Maryland and D.C. are suffering financial harm by losing business at nearby government-owned convention centers. A separate emoluments lawsuit against Trump by Democratic lawmakers is also underway. A third lawsuit against Trump, by the ethics advocacy group CREW and several Washington hotels, was dismissed for lack of standing but is now on appeal.
In September 2016, Congress passed the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, which allowed the families of 9/11 victims to pursue the Saudi government in court for bearing some responsibility for the terrorist attacks. The Saudi government decided to lobby against the law in Congress and recruited U.S. military veterans to do its lobbying for them.
The lobbying trips were initiated when Jasper Johns, a Wisconsin attorney and Army veteran, sent emails to veterans inviting them on an all-expense-paid trip to Washington D.C., including a stay at the Trump Hotel, to lobby against the law on behalf of a veterans advocacy group. Six separate lobbying trips and Trump Hotel stays occurred in the months of December, January and February following the 2016 election, with up to fifty attendees on one trip. Each trip included one or two dinners in hotel banquet rooms, usually with open bars.
The Saudi government was the secret source of funding for these lavish trips. The Washington firm Quorvis/MSLGroup, a longtime lobbyist for the Saudi government, made payments to Maryland-based political operative Michael Gibson, who then made payments to Johns and helped organize the trips. In a federal filing required for U.S. firms acting as agents for foreign countries, Quorvis stated it spent a total of $272,000 for lodging, catering and parking at the Trump hotel in Washington.
If you believe your business has been harmed by foreign or domestic customers shifting their business to Trump properties, call Parker Waichman LLP today at 1-800-YOURLAWYER. You may have legal remedies, but constitutional litigation against a sitting President is no small matter, and you need the most sophisticated legal advice you can obtain. Call Parker Waichman LLP today for a free consultation with one of our experienced attorneys, and we can help you assert your rights under our constitutional anti-bribery laws.
