"In Defense Of Democracy", Desperate Dems Drop 'Trump Paid Off By Princes & Premiers' Report (But Suggest No Charges)
You know it's bad when... you bring back the 'c'-word.
House Democrats appear to be reverting to an old playbook with their latest report claiming President Trump violated the Constitution by accepting payments for leases and hotel stays while in office due to the "collusive participation of foreign states."
The ZeroHedge-esque-titled report: "White House for Sale: How Princes, Prime Ministers, and Premiers Paid Off President Trump" is 156 pages of damning evidence of Trump's dastardly plan to make millions from foreign leaders while in office.
As The Wall Street Journal's Jack Gillum and Kate O'Keefe breathlessly report, China and Saudi Arabia topped a list of 20 countries whose governments or state-linked entities pumped millions of dollars into Donald Trump’s properties while he was president, according to a new report and previously undisclosed records that shed light on Trump’s potential business conflicts as he seeks a second term.
Public documents and internal financial records obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee and seen by The Wall Street Journal showed that countries spent lavishly at Trump’s hotels in Washington and Las Vegas. They also shelled out for payments at his New York properties, spending a total of at least $7.8 million during his time in office.
The Chinese government and entities linked to it spent more than $5.5 million, or nine times that of Saudi Arabia, the next biggest spender, according to the report published Thursday by the panel’s Democratic minority. It argued that the foreign payments identified are “likely only a small fraction” of the true total because of incomplete disclosures.
The report, underpinned by documents provided to House investigators by the accounting firm Mazars USA, offers a fuller picture of how Trump’s businesses benefited during his presidency as foreign officials may have tried to curry favor with Trump.
Democrats will likely raise such questions again if he wins another term in November.
WSJ sheepishly admits that "the findings stem from years of litigation into whether Trump ran afoul of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which prevents officeholders from accepting anything of value from foreign states without the permission of Congress."
Which have prompted absolutely no charges at all for Trump or his family.
But, that's not the point. The report provides defensive 'whataboutist' talking points for Biden-backers.
The tone of the report positions Trump's actions as shockingly treasonous:
"The report’s detailed findings make clear that we don’t have the laws in place to deal with a president who is willing to brazenly convert the presidency into a business for self-enrichment and wealth maximization with the collusive participation of foreign states.
No other president had ever come close before to trying a rip-off like this simply based on vacuuming up foreign government money, which was the cardinal presidential offense and betrayal in the eyes of the Founders - an offense and betrayal made all the more striking here by the offender’s repeated laughable proclamations of "America First!""
And yet, after 156 pages of horrific 'facts', the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability does not call for charges, or an investigation; but instead suggests some reforms for future presidents to:
"ensure that all occupants of the Oval Office abide by the Constitution’s unequivocal language commanding loyalty to the interests of the American people - not the interests of homicidal Saudi monarchs, totalitarian Chinese bureaucratic state capitalists, or other foreign actors looking to obtain policy favors and indulgences by paying off a president or his wholly owned businesses."
The comments section of The Wall Street Journal story on the Democrats' report sums up the average Americans' view of all this...
William Hall
Let me get this straight.
Foreign governments spent money at Trump properties for which they received lodging and meals and whatever other services the Trump properties provided.
However, the Biden crime family received millions from foreign actors and we have no idea what services were provided in return.
* * *
John Melvin
Shocked. I am shocked to discover that hotels charge fees for providing rooms and food for its guests.
Is there any evidence that they grossly overpaid or received something other than room and board?
I'm guessing not, or it would have been in the story.
...and it goes on...
Still, we are sure this report will play non-stop on various news networks for the next 48 hours and will serve as a tool to counter the actual payoffs that the Biden family have directly received, for apparently no services rendered...