Cummings has "grave concerns" Trump companies may be accepting illegal foreign payments
The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government reform on Wednesday said the "meager" pamphlet the Trump Organization provided the committee in response to questions about Trump companies' handling of foreign government payments "raises grave concerns" about the president's compliance with the Constitution.
Last month, the committee asked the Trump Organization for six categories of documents about how profits from foreign sources are identified, calculated, tracked and reported, and whether President Trump plans to to donate those profits to charity, as he claimed he would.
But the Trump Organization responded with a 40-sentence pamphlet that Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, said calls into question whether the president is violating the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits any U.S official from accepting benefits from foreign officials or governments.
"This pamphlet raises grave concerns about the president's refusal to comply with the Constitution because he believes it is 'impractical' and could 'diminish the guest experience of our brand,'" Cummings wrote in a Wednesday letter to George Sorial, executive vice president and chief compliance counsel for the Trump Organization.
"Complying with the United States Constitution is not an optional exercise, but a requirement for serving as our nation's president," Cummings continued. "If President Trump believes that identifying all of the prohibited foreign emoluments he is currently receiving would be too challenging or would harm his business ventures, his options are to divest his ownership or submit a proposal to Congress to ask for our consent."
Last month, Ivanka Trump, now an assistant to the president, told "CBS This Morning" she manages any conflict that arises with Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Cummings' letter pointed out something else -- the Trump Organization is relying on foreign representatives to self-report to a Trump company if they are paying for something in their official capacity of if a foreign government is footing the bill.
According to the Trump Organization pamphlet, "It is not the intention nor the design of this policy for our properties to attempt to identify individual travelers who have not specifically identified themselves as being a representatives of a foreign government entity on foreign government business."
Cummings also pointed out the pamphlet doesn't address indirect, third-party payments.
"The deficiencies in this approach are obvious," Cummings wrote. "Under the policy outlined in this pamphlet, foreign governments could provide prohibited emoluments to President Trump, for example, through organizations such as RT, the propaganda arm of the Russian government, or a host of other entities that are funded and controlled by foreign governments. Those payments would not be tracked in any way and would be hidden from the American public."
The Trump Organization also hasn't responded to the committee's request for a briefing with Trump Organization officials and committee staff, Cummings said. After the Trump Organization's response, Cummings asked that such a briefing happen before June 2.
Cummings, as the committee's top Democrat, has found himself in the position of regularly addressing the Trump administration's potential conflicts of interest, as Republicans sometimes hesitate to criticize the president.
Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz has joined Cummings in some statements and requests, such as the request to the Trump Organization regarding the process for identifying foreign payments.