The lawsuit will accuse Trump of allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
A group including former White House ethics attorneys will file a lawsuit on Monday accusing
President Donald Trump of allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Deepak Gupta, a Supreme Court litigator working on the case, said the lawsuit would allege that the Constitution’s emoluments clause forbids payments to Trump’s businesses. It will seek a court order forbidding Trump from accepting such payments, he said.
The case,
reported earlier by The New York Times, is part of a wave of litigation expected to be filed against Trump by liberal advocacy groups. It will be filed in a Manhattan federal court, Gupta said, and plaintiffs will include Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer in Republican President George W. Bush’s White House.
A Trump spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
More: Constitutional Scholars To Sue Donald Trump Over D.C. Hotel And Other Businesses
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Regardless of the lawsuit’s fate, it is just the first hint of the legal assault that the Trump administration will face.
Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the
American Civil Liberties Union, said it was separately looking for plaintiffs to file a lawsuit alleging that Mr. Trump is violating the Emoluments Clause. It hopes to find a hotel or bed-and-breakfast that might compete against a Trump hotel as a party with standing to sue.
The A.C.L.U. filed
an extensive Freedom of Information Act request on Thursday asking the Justice Department, the General Services Administration and the Office of Government Ethics for all legal opinions and memos they have prepared addressing financial or ethical conflicts that Mr. Trump might face. It could potentially use those documents in litigation against the Trump administration.
CREW filed
a separate complaint with the General Services Administration on Friday over a provision that appears to prohibit the leasing of the Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to an elected federal official. The building is the site of Mr. Trump’s hotel.
Perhaps more important, the legal groups said they might challenge executive actions Mr. Trump is expected to take on topics like international trade deals, illegal immigration and climate change.
More: Foreign Payments to Trump Firms Violate Constitution, Suit Will Claim - The New York Times
