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Update on whether Trump hotels causing constitutional violation

Whether or not U.S. President Donald Trump has violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution to profit off his presidency is back in the headlines with news that as part of a lawsuit the attorneys general of the District of Columbia and Maryland plan to file subpoenas seeking records from multiple entities, including the Trump Organization and the U.S. Treasury Department.

A U.S. District Court judge has approved “brisk discovery” in the case alleging that foreign and domestic government spending at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel amounts to gifts to the president in violation of the emoluments clause. The lawsuit is also trying to determine how Trump’s hotel is affecting the hospitality industry in D.C. and Maryland. The subpoenas seek to prove that hotel revenues are going to the president through his affiliated entities, including The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that 37 subpoenas are in the works, including 13 Trump-linked entities such as the Washington hotel and its management, as well as several government agencies that have spent taxpayer dollars at the hotel or have information on Trump’s finances relevant to the case.

Eighteen private entities, including hotels that compete with the Trump hotel are also being subpoenaed to “illuminate the unfair nature of that competition,” said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh.

Trump’s Justice Department lawyers filed a notice to the court Friday indicating it plans to challenge a Maryland judge’s decision to allow the case to move forward, arguing that earnings from business activity such as hotel stays don’t qualify as emoluments and that any discovery would “be a distraction to the President’s performance of his constitutional duties.”

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