The attorneys general of the District of Columbia and Maryland began today sending subpoenas to the Trump Organization, five federal agencies and the state of Maine for financial records involving payments to President Donald Trump’s businesses, CNN reported.
“We are in the process of serving subpoenas to federal agencies, Trump organizations, and 18 other entities to prove that President Trump is profiting from the presidency,” Attorney General Karl A. Racine tweeted at 5:15 p.m. on the official Twitter account of the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.
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District of Columbia Attorney General Racine and Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, both Democrats, want records from the Internal Revenue Service and dozens of other entities as part of a lawsuit accusing Trump of profiting off the presidency.
The case alleges that foreign and domestic government spending at Trump’s Washington, D.C., hotel amounts to gifts to the president and violates the Constitution’s emoluments clause, according to Politico.
The subpoenas target 37 entities, Washington Post reported. Subpoenas were sent to the Department of Defense, General Services Administration, Department of Commerce, Department of Agriculture and the Treasury Department, which spent taxpayer dollars at the hotel or have information on Trump’s finances relevant to the case.
#BREAKING: Together with AG @BrianFrosh we are in the process of serving subpoenas to federal agencies, Trump organizations, and 18 other entities to prove that President Trump is profiting from the presidency: https://t.co/arFFdSuki4 and https://t.co/MeaL4KKW0G #emoluments pic.twitter.com/MJvBZemwYo
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) December 4, 2018
The subpoenas focus on answering three questions:
The subpoenas are asking for records of payments to Trump from state government and federal agencies that patronized the hotel. They want information proving that hotel revenues are going to the president through his affiliated entities, including The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Most of the records being requested date back to Jan. 1, 2015.
Responses to Racine’s tweet ranged from grateful to ecstatic.
THANK YOU
— Carol Baume (@CarolBaume) December 4, 2018
Can we see it LIVE!
— matty (@Floridamatty) December 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/NatCookResists/status/1070099830226092032
Make 'em squirm!
— The Littlest Cretin (@DLittlestCretin) December 4, 2018
Thank you from a greatful nation! 😊❤🇺🇸🦅
— Corinne M C-H (@CorinneMCH) December 5, 2018
Great job. Thank you!
— make it stop (@jilladavis) December 4, 2018
Thank you Sir.
— Margaret (@southernm61) December 4, 2018
Go Frosh‼️‼️ Man #OfThePeople pic.twitter.com/uZYpbrOxOG
— Scarlet (@ScarletAvengers) December 4, 2018
Thank you for doing your job!
— #TrumpKillsAmericans (@rapril4200) December 5, 2018
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the Philippines have hosted events at Trump’s D.C. hotel since he took office, News media have reported.
“We are confident that at the end of discovery we will be able to prove our case — that President Trump is violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, America’s first anti-corruption laws,” Frosh said in a statement.
