Yes, former President Trump and his company accepted $7.8 million as payment for hotel stays during his presidency from foreign dignitaries, And, yes, that violates the US Constitution and its emolument rules. But at this point all we have is business transactions. People rent hotel rooms all the time and presumably these foreign visitors paid the rack rate. Did Trump give them a deal and did they give him something in return? We don’t know that yet. But if–at the end of the day–all we have is a hotel stay and no “quid-pro-quo” from or between the parties–what’s the big deal? He did not ask the permission of Congress but violating the Constitution in this case without evidence of an underlying anti-American activity seems pretty hollow to us. If, on the other hand, Mr. Trump gained some concessions for his company, or compromised national security or in any way endangered any of our allies–he should pay the price. But right now as we post this story his only guilt is that of not divesting himself from his businesses while president. And BTW, it was reported that he turned over the $7.8 million to the US Treasury. Dems–unless you find a smoking gun this kind of tactic sounds too much like a GOP effort.

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