The idea is that certain entities, corporations or governments, block massive numbers of rooms, pay for them, then do not use them, presumably to curry favor with the President.
As U.S. policy currently stands, this is perfectly legal.
- As I have pointed out before, Trump would be considered corrupt if Mohammad bin Salman handed him a check for five billion dollars, but …
- If Eric Trump opens up a lemonade stand, puts up a sign that says “Lemonade, Five Billion Dollars per Cup,” and bin Salman buys a cup, that is completely legal.
For now.
Granted, it is ridiculous that such a thing is legal, but that is the current ruling. Several lawsuits are currently challenging that position, and are slowly making their way through the courts.
Actually, Scoopy (and Mr. Stanley), if Donald Trump owns the lemonade stand and has Junior running it, that is illegal, as it is a violation of the Emoluments clause of the Constitution.
And, to Mr. Stanley, this is not the best thing. The best thing is the President confessing to pressuring a foreign leader to get dirt on a political opponent and then covering it up. The transcript released by the White House is all that is needed.
As long as Eric owns the lemonade stand, it is perfectly legal. That’s why I specified Eric rather than The Donald himself.
However …
Recent Justice Department filings indicate that their current position is that it would be OK even if Donald owned it. Filings by the department since June 2017 reveal a new interpretation that “would permit the president – and all federal officials – to accept unlimited amounts of money from foreign governments, as long as the money comes through commercial transactions with an entity owned by the federal official.” Needless to say, not everyone agrees with this interpretation. Ultimately, this will be decided by the courts.
Article.
Why do big corporations “block” massive numbers of rooms, pay for them, and then not use them, WIlliam W Stanley?
Notice he left out “governments”.
And which hotels were these corporations booking up before Trump took office?
Maybe Marriott should sue Trump stealing their bookings.
It goes without saying that the Republican’s would have howled for the impeachment of Obama or Clinton had they done anything remotely similar. After all, Whitewater was worth appointing a special prosecutor for and giving him carte blanche until he found ANYTHING. (He finally came up with Monica Lewinsky.)
No apostrophe in “Repbublicans”. Why do I keep doing that?