Transcripts for MSNBC The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20190904 02:32:30 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Of staff mark short saying that it wasn t he s asked, did the president ask the vice president to stay at the property? he says it wasn t a request like a command, but i think it was a suggestion. so that s a suggestion that you pay me money that you get the united states government to pay me money for your trip to ireland. right. well, he s both the spender of the government s money there and the receiver of the government s money there, as the owner of the trump hotel, and that s been what s been going on at the trump hotel in washington, where all the foreign governments go and where they also spend a lot of u.s. government money. that s why i call the trump hotel the washington emolument. it should be a stop on the tour busses where they point it out to all the tourists and explain what the emoluments clauses are all about. congressman, you know, when michael cohen s case became public and the indictment came out and michael cohen pled guilty to it, it seemed to me that wha
Professors lawrence tribe tweeted, quote, getting pence and team to stay at the trump property on ireland s west coast and commute daily to and from the meetings on ireland s east coast, all to line trump s pockets, isn t just a waste of tax dollars, it violates the article ii domestic emoluments clause, the constitution says the president shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased forediminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and she shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the united states or any of them. professor tribe argues that the income donald trump is receiving at his hotel from the pence visit, which is paid by the united states treasury, is an emolument from the united states to donald trump. the law dictionary defines an emolument as an advantage, profit or gain received as a
He and his entourage could not stay because they needed a place big enough, quote, to accommodate the unique tonight print that comes with our security detail. how much bigger a footprint is that than the last vice president s footprint? the shellborn has 265 rooms but mike pence decided to stay at a hotel on the west coast of ireland owned by donald trump that has about 40 fewer rooms. the vice president s chief of staff told reporters that the choice of the trump hotel was suggested by president trump himself. that would be like the president of the ireland deciding to sleep in princeton, new jersey while on an official visit to washington, d.c. princeton, new jersey is exactly the same distance from washington as the trump hotel is from dublin, about 180 miles. and it s not just ridiculous. at least one constitutional scholar believes that this is illegal. harvard constitutional law
You are yourself a constitutional scholar. what do you make of the emolument intersection with mike pence staying at donald trump s hotel in ireland? well, you know, this has been original sin of the trump presidency. they ve been using the white house as a money-making instrument for the president and his family and his business. it s a for-profit enterprise that they ve got going, and professor tribe is right, and i say that not just because i hold him in very high regard and esteem, but the language of the domestic emoluments clause is clear. you re limited to your salary in office. look, before the framers wrote the constitution, it was all monarchy and all of the kings and princes ran their governments as money-making operations. they were trying to make as much as they could. they wanted to continue to accumulate wealth. our framers wanted our president to be a servant of the congress and the people who takes care that the laws are faithfully