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Trump, Inc.

The Emolument Suit Against Trump That Is Moving Ahead

Trump, Inc.

WNYC Studios

Don, Trump, News, Business, Jared, Ivanka, Jr, Politics, Business News, Government, Eric

4.65.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2018

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There’s lots of talk about congressional investigations of the Trump administration that may be coming. Meanwhile, there is already a push to pull back the veil on the president’s conflicts. And it’s making progress. This month, a federal judge ruled that Maryland and Washington, D.C., can move ahead with a lawsuit claiming the president has violated the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bars presidents from accepting payments from foreign and state governments without congressional approval. That means the president may soon have to turn over all sorts of documents related to his businesses.   We spoke about the case with one of the lawyers behind it, District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine. Racine explains that the Emoluments Clause is the “country's first anticorruption law.” The framers created it to “ensure that a president the United States as well as other federal officers would be loyal to the interest of the United States, not to their purses or to their pocketbooks.”   The Department of Justice has fought the case, disputing that the president is violating the Emoluments Clause. “This case, which should have been dismissed, presents important questions that warrant immediate appellate review,” a department spokesman said after the judge’s order. Racine also talked with us about what exact documents they’re hoping to get, and the time a Republican Congress investigated whether another president was receiving emoluments. (He wasn’t.)

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello and welcome to this Trump Inc. podcast extra from WNYC in ProPublica.

0:06.4

I'm Andrea Bernstein.

0:08.6

Today we have a special guest, Karl Racine, who's the attorney general of the District

0:13.0

of Columbia, who recently won a big victory in his lawsuit to prevent President Trump

0:17.8

from profiting from his family's business while he's in the White House.

0:22.1

Just recently, a federal judge and a rather unambiguous decision ruled DC could go ahead

0:27.2

with discovery, collecting documents and information on Trump's business.

0:31.5

So we're going to talk about DC's lawsuit and all the lawsuits out there and how the

0:35.7

courts are responding and what's next.

0:38.5

But first, welcome attorney general Racine.

0:41.8

Thank you very much for having me Andrea.

0:43.6

So you know I always stumble on this, but people call you general?

0:48.6

My friends and family do not, I assure you.

0:51.4

But yes, by official title, I'm general Racine.

0:54.4

Okay.

0:55.4

Well, thank you for joining us.

0:56.5

Back in June of last year, you decided to file an emoluments case with the ID of Maryland.

1:03.0

And I think most people who listen to Trump ink know what the emoluments clause is.

1:07.2

But just in case, can you explain?

1:09.2

I will.

1:10.2

And let me first say that I have relied on information that I've learned from your

1:15.1

podcast to inform the team on aspects of our case.

...

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