Black Letter Law

The Law

There is a phrase in the legal profession:  “black letter law.”  Most laws are a matter of interpretation, of looking at past judicial decisions to determine what a law means or how it should be enforced.  But sometimes the law, as written, has a clear meaning, and a clear understanding.  That is called “black letter law,” law that is clearly written and clearly understood.

Several months ago the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee asked for the President’s tax returns.  This was not a “subpoena” or a request, it was a demand made under “black letter law,” 26 US Code § 6103 (f) (1) to be exact. The wording clearly allows the Chairman to demand any individual tax return.  The IRS Commissioner, and the Secretary of the Treasury both refused to turn the President’s return over.  The case is now in court, but it’s difficult to see how any judge, even a Trump appointee, could ignore the letter of the law.

Article I, Section 9

And now we have returned again. The President himself is violating the “black letter law,” this time the words of the United States Constitution itself. Article I, Section 9 states:

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines an emolument as: “A salary, fee, or profit from employment or office.”  The critical word is “profit,” especially critical for a President who remains enmeshed in his personal businesses.  

Trump Doral International

On Monday, the President of the United States appeared beside the host President of France at the end of the G7 Summit.  After answering multiple questions, President Trump announced that the G7 in 2020 will be held at his own resort property in Doral, Florida.  Trump then proceeded to give a five-minute “infomercial” for Trump International, Doral (transcript below.)

The President extolled the beauty of Doral, the multiple “bungalows” with beautiful views, the ballrooms and meeting rooms that the nations could book.  He even mentioned the proximity to the Miami Airport, and parking, all of the parking available on the hundreds and hundreds of acres.  

Prices aren’t outrageous at the Trump International Doral. A hotel room, king deluxe, is only $111/night.  If you want something more luxurious, try the “Spa Grand Two Bedroom Suite” at $847/night, or even the “Presidential Suite” at $5011.30/night.  The views do look nice, and it is easily accessible to Miami and the airport.  

To hold a world conference like the G7 at the hotel would fill every room, from the king deluxe to the Presidential Suites.  It would fill every restaurant, and every conference and ballroom.  The golf courses would be packed with dignitaries, each paying the $250/ player cost. It would financially “make” the year for the struggling Trump International.  Even the host/owner US President would pay the fees, carefully billed to the US Government, for his stay and activities.

Emolument

So when the seven world leaders come to Doral next summer, completely filling the Trump International Hotel and Doral Golf Club, who will profit from all of those foreign visitors?  The company owned by the President of the United States, the Trump Organization.  It’s the definition of accepting an “emolument.”

It’s a violation of the Black Letter Law of the US Constitution. But like most of the Constitution, there are no “penalties” attached for violation.  Penalties are written into US Code, the laws passed by Congress.  Since no President has attempted to take foreign money before, there is no precedent for Trump’s action, no penalty available. Presidents of the past have abided the Constitution, at least this particular clause.  

Impeachment

So what?  There is nothing new that Donald Trump is breaking precedent, and law, to get what he wants.  We know that the Justice Department will do nothing; the Attorney General has conveniently written them out of Presidential criminality by hiding behind a single obscure internal opinion written in 1973.  The only body left to check the President:  the US House of Representatives.

Violating the Constitution is by definition an impeachable offense.  The House can argue about the Mueller Report, the can discuss whether the Trump Campaign colluded, conspired or cooperated with the Russians in 2016, they can debate obstruction of justice.  But this is a straight-up, Black Letter Law offense:  the President is profiting from foreign states.  He spent five minutes on Monday telling the world how he was going to do it.  It doesn’t get any clearer than that.

Transcript

Transcript of the Trump Press Conference at G7, 8/26.19

Speaker 8 – … And on next year’s G7, you alluded today, dropped several heads (hints) about Miami, about Doral, and hosting next year’s G7 at your property. What reassurances, if any, can you give the American people that you are not looking to profit off the presidency?

Donald Trump: Well, I’ll tell you what. I’ve spent, and I think I will in a combination of loss and opportunity, probably it’ll cost me anywhere from $ 3 to $5 billion to be President. And- Three to $5 billion to be president. And the only thing I care about is this country. Couldn’t care less, otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. People have asked me, “What do you think it costs?” And between opportunity, not doing thing … I used to get a lot of money to make speeches. Now I give speeches all the time. You know what I get? Zippo, and that’s good. And I did a lot of great jobs and great deals that I don’t do anymore. I don’t want to do them because the deals I’m making are great deals for the country. And that’s, to me, much more important.

Donald Trump: Doral happens to be within Miami. It’s a city, it’s a wonderful place. It’s a very, very successful area of Florida. It’s very importantly, only five minutes from the airport. The airport’s right next to it. It’s a big international airport, one of the biggest in the world. Everybody that’s coming, all of these people with all of their big entourages come. It’s set up so … And by the way, my people looked at 12 sites, all good. But some were two hours from an airport, some were four hours, I mean, they were so far away. Some didn’t allow this, or they didn’t allow that. With Doral, we have a series of magnificent buildings, we call them bungalows. They each hold from 50 to 70 very luxurious rooms with magnificent views. We have incredible conference rooms, incredible restaurants, it’s such a natural. We wouldn’t even have to do the work that they did here. And they’ve done a beautiful job. They’ve really done a beautiful job.

Donald Trump: And what we have also is Miami. And we have many hundreds of acres, so that in terms of parking, in terms of all of the things that you need. The ballrooms are among the biggest in Florida and the best. It’s brand new and my people wanted it. From my standpoint, I’m not going to make any money. In my opinion, I’m not going to make any money. I don’t want to make money. I don’t care about making money. If I want to make money, I wouldn’t worry about 3 billion to 5 billion, because that’s what … I mean, at some point I’m going to detail that and we’ll show, but I think it’s just a great place to be. I think having it in Miami is fantastic, really fantastic. Having it at that particular place because of the way it’s set up, each country can have their own villa or their own bungalow, and the bungalows, when I say they have a lot of units in them, so I think it just works out well.

Donald Trump:  And when my people came back, they took tours. They went to different places. I won’t mention places, but you’ll have a list because they’re going to give a presentation on it fairly soon. They went to places all over the country and they came back and they said, “This is where we’d like to be.” Now, we had military people doing it. We had Secret Service people doing it. We had people that really understand what it’s about. It’s not about me, it’s about getting the right location. I think it’s very important.

Donald Trump: Jonathan.

Speaker 9: You’re not concerned about the ethics, like you’re trying to boost your own brand.

Donald Trump:  No, not at all. Go ahead, Jonathan.