Never heard of the foreign-emoluments clause? You’re not alone.
James C. Nelson, retired Justice of the Montana Supreme Court and a member of the Legal Advisory Committee for Free Speech For People, and John, co-founder and president of Free Speech For People, address “why we’re calling for Congress to impeach Donald Trump” in the latest in TIME Magazine.
Ron Fein, Free Speech For People’s Legal Director outlined President Trump’s ongoing violation of the Foreign Emoluments Clause in a recent blog posting to the American Constitution Society For Law And Policy’s blog on February 2nd, 2017.
Let us take as given that President Trump has violated, and continues to violate, the Foreign Emoluments Clause. (We can reserve for another time the Domestic Emoluments Clause, as well as any potential violations arising from the executive order on immigration and possible defiance of federal court orders.) The present question is: is this an impeachable offense? The answer is clearly yes.
Newsy explains how “Donald Trump’s international web of businesses creates unprecedented potential for conflicts of interest and corruption. And some picks for his administration might have to face their own conflicts.”
The site has even dedicated a whole page on its website to keep tabs on how the President’s business interests are clashing with the presidency and potentially the Constitution. Read more of their coverage, here.
OVER 500,000 PEOPLE, WITH THOUSANDS MORE JOINING BY THE HOUR, CALL ON CONGRESS TO BEGIN IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION
“Given President Donald Trump’s refusal to divest fully from his business interests, he is now in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution.” John Bonifaz, Free Speech For People
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eleven days after the inauguration of President Trump, more than half a million people have joined the campaign and petition at ImpeachDonaldTrumpNow.org, calling on the U.S. Congress to initiate an impeachment investigation into President Trump’s violations of the U.S. Constitution — citing the Foreign Emoluments Clause and Domestic Emoluments Clause, as well as violations of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act of 2012 (STOCK Act).
As Yes! Magazine reports, “Never has a modern president so flagrantly violated the Constitution.”
John Bonifaz, a constitutional law attorney explains this unprecedented situation in American history—and what we can do about it.
Want to take action? Here is John’s answer to how citizens can get engaged:
We have on our “Take Action” page on the website a number of ways for people to get involved. The first way is to sign the petition. Then share it with friends and networks to spread the word about this campaign, to post it on Facebook and Twitter, to send it around to your friends and neighbors. We also are urging people to call their members of Congress and urge that they introduce this resolution or—once it’s already been introduced—to support the impeachment investigation.
“Right now our strategy is to get this moving right away.”
We have on our website in that section a draft model resolution that we urge people to get passed in their local communities. Go before your city council, or county commission, or state government, and get your community on record calling for this impeachment investigation to begin in the House of Representatives. We need the support financially of people from around the country to help lift up this campaign, to do this organizing, legal, and communications work.”
To read the full article, click here.