President Trump Being Defended by Government Lawyers
President Donald Trump is said to be using taxpayers’ money to cover his legal fees in order to deal with his conflict of interest as President of the United States of America and business owner of a global real estate company.
The exact number of lawyers on the case or the amount they are being paid is not reported. But it is known that there are more than 10 lawyers representing Trump who are receiving a salary in the low six-figure range.
Why Does President Trump Need Lawyers on His Side?
President Trump has caused a lot of controversy during his time as a presidential candidate, as president-elect, and now as the president. However, his need for lawyers is the result of owning a business that operates on a global scale, which includes governments from the around the world as frequent guests. Initially, this does not seem to be a big deal, since the goal of a business is to earn as much revenue as it can from whomever it can.
The real issue is that Donald Trump is both a business owner and president, which could cause a conflict of interest. This means that he could use his platform as president to benefit his personal business since he is meeting with foreign government entities on a regular basis. The purpose of the meetings with governments around the world is to make relations stronger with the U.S. and create partnerships that foster economic growth for the country, not for his business.
However, behind closed doors, it is very difficult to say what is actually happening. For instance, Trump could be traveling around the world to ensure that he is satisfying his business client’s needs, when he is instead supposed to be on official presidential business.
One reason why this could be true is that Trump could be in the White House for a maximum of eight years, after which he would simply return to running his real estate business. Therefore, a business-minded individual looking at the larger perspective could argue that by spending time on his personal business now, it could have a much greater impact on his business eight years on, compared to handling presidential duties and the greater good of America.
The president is also using his own private team of lawyers to defend his case. Arguably, it seems that President Trump wants to maintain the status quo.
Who Is President Donald Trump “Lawyering” Against?
The Justice Department is the group forming their arguments against the president. This group of lawyers is making the case that there is a conflict of interest case with Trump being president and being involved in business dealings with governments around the world.
Traditionally, the Justice Department works to protect the president. However, Trump is a unique case since he is also running a large real estate company with a global presence. The goal of the Justice Department is to separate President Trump from the business to ensure there is no wrongdoing occurring.
Why Does It Matter?
The first big issue is that there is a conflict of interest problem. It can’t be determined if Trump is spending his time in office for the betterment of America or his business.
The other problem is the gifts foreign governments give to President Trump. There are very strict rules in place with regards to gift giving and the presidency. This is a tradition that has been followed around the world whenever the President of the United States visits another country or foreign government entities come to the U.S.
When a lavish or expensive gift is given to the president, it actually does not belong to him/her; the ownership and property of the item belongs to the United States. The gift is handled by the National Archives and Records Administration and is kept there until the president’s term is over. Then, the item is moved to the presidential library, where it is stored. Alternatively, if the president wants to keep the item, he/she can purchase it at fair market value.
This will ensure that there is no additional compensation when acting as president. Also, it will prevent the president from making decisions based on gifts received.
The issue here is that this presents an opportunity for Donald Trump to go around the rules.
Let’s say Trump (the business owner) makes a deal with a foreign government to stay in one of his hotels under his real estate business. In return, he could be given a premium payment as a gift. On the official record, the paperwork within the Trump business empire would show that a business transaction took place.
In the end, it could be said that Trump is not receiving a “gift,” because he is simply getting paid for the services he offers as a business owner. However, because Donald Trump is also President of the United States, if foreign governments are giving him premium payments for services rendered, it could be a big issue. This is where the real conflict of interest lies.
What Is the Solution?
There are two options for President Trump. The first is that he could step down as the President of the United States of America. Trump would no longer need lawyers to defend him since there would be no conflict of interest. Trump would be stripped of his title as president and could then focus on his business. As a result, Vice President Mike Pence would then become president.
The other option is that he makes changes to his business. This would mean that Trump could sell off the assets within his business holdings that cater to governments around the world. The buyer of the assets could see this possibility as a forced sale by Trump and use it to buy the assets at a lower price. Of course, Trump is a business-minded individual, so he would not want to sell the assets below market value. In this situation, Trump might be given a grace period to execute the sale of the assets.
Now, no business owner wants to sell off assets because of a forced sale. So another possibility is that Trump simply restructures his business to only accommodate non-government customers. As a result, Trump would get to keep his assets. However, this does not seem a viable solution; Trump has assets all around the world, so it would be difficult to monitor if there would be any wrongdoing occurring.
Another issue is that foreign governments are used to visiting specific hotels and receiving a certain level of service, with a ton of hospitality on their visits. Consequently, they may want to only stay at Trump hotels due to past experiences. If they were refused access because of the restructuring (the hotels would only accommodate non-government customers), it could cause global tensions and serious problems down the line.
Then, the only two outcomes would be for Trump to either sell off assets or step down as president in order to ensure there is no conflict of interest.