Democrats call for Trump Organization subpoena as part of 'serious investigation' into Trump conflicts of interest

House Oversight Committee Democrats sent a letter to the committee's Republican chairman on Thursday.
They asked him to subpoena the Trump Organization for documents detailing the organization's management of foreign government payments since President Donald Trump took office.
Trump's attorney, Sheri Dillon,
Documents memorializing the agreement were never provided to Congress, according to the Democrats, apart from "a glossy, eight-page pamphlet" released in May 2017 that "made clear the Trump Organization would not attempt to identify all foreign emoluments prohibited by the Constitution."

One year after then-

"One year ago today, on January 11, 2017, President-elect Trump held a press conference to announce that he would not liquidate his assets or establish an independent blind trust," the House Oversight Democrats wrote in a letter to the Republican chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy.

Trump's attorney, Sheri Dillon, told reporters last year that while the US Constitution did "not require" Trump "to do anything here," Trump had decided to "do more than what the Constitution requires" and voluntarily donate all profits from foreign government payments made to his hotel to the US treasury.

"All of Mr. Trump's investments in the Trump Organization have been, or will be, conveyed to a trust prior to January 20," or Inauguration Day, Dillon said.

She added that the trust — set up with help from Fred Fielding, a former White House counsel to Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush — would hold only liquid assets such as cash and business operating assets, and would require Trump to relinquish leadership and management of his company to his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.

Trump's daughter Ivanka would also have no further involvement with, or management authority over, the Trump Organization, Dillon said.

Democrats say the documents were never provided to Congress

Documents memorializing the agreement were never provided to Congress, according to the Democrats, apart from "a glossy, eight-page pamphlet" released in May 2017 that "made clear the Trump Organization would not attempt to identify all foreign emoluments prohibited by the Constitution."

The Trump Organization operates a variety of golf resorts and hotels around the world, many of which are visited by foreign government officials and diplomats. The pamphlet said that "to fully and completely identify all patronage at our properties by customer type is impractical in the service industry," and would "impede upon personal privacy and diminish the guest experience of our brand."

Trump has said he sold all his stocks in his organization last year, but many ethics experts had urged him to fully divest himself from or set up a blind trust for his assets. Dillon said Trump opted against these steps because they were not realistic.

Those steps would "only exacerbate conflicts of interests," Dillon said, adding, "Selling his brand means he would be entitled to royalties from it, and whatever price was paid for it would be subject to criticism and scrutiny" over whether it was inflated to curry favor with the president.

"The president-elect should not be expected to destroy the company he built," Dillon said.

Questions about the emoluments clause of the Constitution

filed a lawsuit last year

A judge dismissed the case in December, concluding that the court does not have subject-matter jurisdiction over the case and that CREW's

The Democrats called on Gowdy to issue a subpoena to the Trump Organization for documents referring or relating to "the process by which payments from foreign governments or foreign government-owned entities are identified"; "the process or formula by which the profits from such payments are calculated"; "the manner in which those profits are donated to the US treasury"; how details about the profits donated to the Treasury are "tracked or publicly reported"; and whether the Trump Organization, Trump, or his trust "plans to claim donations to the US treasury as a gift for tax deduction purposes."

The Democrats also want documents "showing which specific entities within the Trump Organization" have donated, or plan to donate, the profits they have received from foreign government entities.