D.C., Maryland attorneys general file a lawsuit against President Trump

Fredreka Schouten | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Maryland and D.C. to sue Trump for 'constitutional violations' The Attorney Generals from D.C. and Maryland are planning a major lawsuit against President Trump saying he has violated anti-corruption clauses.

WASHINGTON — The attorneys general in the nation's capital and Maryland filed a lawsuit Monday against President Trump, arguing he is violating anti-corruption clauses in the Constitution by allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments and other government entities.

But it's far from clear whether the lawsuit, the first by a government entity against Trump over his business interests, has any chance of success in the federal courts. It rests on the "Emoluments Clause," an 18th century provision in the Constitution that was aimed at keeping European royalty from corrupting American ambassadors with expensive gifts, and has never been fully tested in court.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh and Washington Attorney General Karl Racine, both Democrats, said Trump's decision to retain ownership of his real-estate and branding empire has left the president "deeply enmeshed with a legion of foreign and domestic actors" and violates that clause, interpreted by many lawyers as requiring congressional approval before a federal official can accept payments or gifts from foreign officials.

"Never in the history of this country have we had a president with these kinds of extensive business entanglements or a president who refused to adequately distance themselves from their holdings," Racine told reporters at a new conference Monday afternoon.

Trump's lawyers and the Department of Justice maintain that market-rate payments for goods and services at Trump's hotels, golf courses and the other businesses he owns are not "emoluments" as defined by the Constitution.

Lindsay Jancek of the Republican National Committee called the lawsuit "absurd."

"The actions of the attorneys general represent the kind of partisan grandstanding voters across the country have come to despise," Jancek said in a statement. "The American people elected President Trump to lead this country, and it is time Democrats end their efforts to de-legitimize his presidency.”

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the Trump administration would ask the court to throw out the lawsuit.

Read more:

Monday's filing comes on the heels of other lawsuits challenging Trump's decision to financially benefit from his enterprises while serving in the White House. A watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has an emoluments lawsuit pending against Trump in New York, and the group's lawyers are serving as unpaid outside counsel in the case brought by Frosh and Racine.

A small wine bar in the nation's capital also has filed a separate suit, claiming Trump's Washington hotel and restaurant, located in a federally owned building not far from the White House, pose unfair competition. Some congressional Democrats also are weighing a legal challenge.

Legal experts say the lawsuits raise thorny questions about who has legitimate standing in court to take on the president. In a court filing last week that seeks to dismiss CREW's lawsuit, the Justice Department lawyers representing Trump denied any constitutional violations but said it would be up to Congress, not a federal judge, to fix any problem.

The administration's lawyers also argue the clause was never intended to bar presidents from having private business interests. They noted, for instance, that George Washington wrote business plans from the White House and exported cornmeal and flour to Europe and the Caribbean.

"If I were a federal judge asked to rule on this case, I would try to come up with every theory that I could in order to avoid having to deal with the issues involved," said Erik Jensen, of Case Western Reserve University's School of Law.

On Monday, Racine said he and Frosh decided to act because the Republican-controlled Congress has "wholly failed to fulfill its responsibility of serving as a check and balance on the president." The attorneys general said they had legal standing to pursue the case on behalf of the residents they represent — much in the way state attorneys general have opted to challenge Trump's travel ban in the courts.

Racine acknowledged the case could break new ground. As part of their strategy, Frosh said the attorneys general intend to seek access to Trump's financial records, including his tax returns, to determine the extent of his potential conflicts of interest.

Trump has not released his tax returns, the first president in about four decades to refuse to do so. He has cited an ongoing IRS audit as the reason.

Trump's adults sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and a longtime corporate executive, now oversee the Trump businesses.

They pledged to pursue no new foreign deals during Trump's presidency but have traveled the globe — from Dubai to the Dominican Republic — to work on projects conceived before their father took office. They also have planned new businesses in the United States. Last week, the Trump Organization, for instance, announced a new mid-scale hotel brand.

Newly filed lobbying disclosures show the Saudi government recently spent about $270,000 at the Trump International Hotel in Washington as part of a larger lobbying campaign to ease a U.S. terrorism law. A Trump official said the company would donate profits from the Saudi payments to the U.S. Treasury.

Contributing: David Jackson