Lawsuit: Trump businesses violate Constitution

NEW YORK – A legal watchdog group is filing a lawsuit alleging that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments.

The group says Trump is violating the so-called emoluments clause in the Constitution that prohibits him from receiving money from diplomats for stays at his hotels or foreign governments for leases of office space in his buildings. The language in the clause is disputed by some legal scholars.

White House Director of Strategic Communications Hope Hicks says that “the president has no conflicts,” and referred to arguments made by Trump lawyer Sheri Dillon at the president’s news conference earlier this month.

Dillon says the framers did not intend for the Constitution prohibition to apply to fair-value exchanges.

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