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Trump Asks Appeals Court to Take, Then Toss, Emoluments Suit

Trump Asks Appeals Court to Take, Then Toss, Emoluments Suit

(Bloomberg) -- Lawyers for President Donald Trump asked a U.S. appeals court in Washington to take up -- and then throw out -- a lawsuit by Congressional Democrats trying to force him to come to them for permission before being enriched by foreign governments.

Hours later, those Democrats -- led by Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal -- announced they’d issued 37 subpoenas seeking documentary evidence from entities including the Trump Organization, seeking info about foreign government payments and trademarks granted to the president’s businesses.

Key Insights:

  • Trump’s lawyers filed what’s called a “petition for a writ” to the appeals court after U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan not only refused to put the case on hold while they fight his rulings refusing to dismiss the Democrats’ case, but also refused to allow them to appeal his decision.
  • Sullivan separately gave the lawmakers three months to collect evidence supporting their claims that Trump is wrongly profiting from the presidency.
  • The Democrats contend Trump is violating one of the U.S. Constitution’s so-called emoluments clauses, which prohibits presidents from accepting things of value from other nations or their rulers without the consent of Congress.
  • Trump has already asked a Richmond, Virginia-based U.S. appeals court to throw out a parallel suit filed by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia.

The case is Blumenthal v. Trump, 17-cv-1154, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington). The appellate case is In Re Donald Trump, 19-5196, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (Washington).

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Heather Smith

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