Democrats suing President Donald Trump over alleged emoluments clause violations will bring up Trump’s now-reversed decision to hold next year’s G-7 summit at his resort in Doral, Florida to help bolster their case on Tuesday.
Led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Democrats will file a briefing in their lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit of Appeals that will mention Trump’s decision as an example of the President flouting what he calls the “phony” emoluments clause.
“The President may have decided, for now, not to go ahead with his plan to hold the G7 summit at his Doral resort, but the fact that he even thought about it, underscores once again that he has zero regard for the Foreign Emoluments Clause,” Blumenthal said in an emailed statement to TPM. “That’s why my lawsuit to hold the President accountable to the Constitution is so important.”
“My colleagues and I are about to file a brief in our case, and as we note there, the President’s attempt to award the G7 summit to his Doral resort shows how increasingly brazen he’s becoming,” he continued.
Before Trump cancelled his G-7 decision on Saturday, the White House had attempted to mitigate criticism decrying the obvious conflict of interest by telling reporters that Trump would only charge for the event “at cost.”
However, that failed to quell the backlash from critics on both sides of the aisle, forcing Trump to backtrack.
On Monday, the President complained that accusations of using the G-7 to promote his resort were bogus.
“Who cares?” Trump said. “You don’t think I get enough promotion? I get more promotion than any human being that’s ever lived.”
