Washington, DC — Today, Chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Chair of the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Dina Titus (D-NV) issued the following statements after the D.C Circuit dismissed a lawsuit filed by more than 200 Members of Congress to enforce the emoluments clause of the Constitution, ruling that individual Members could not act on behalf of the House or Senate and therefore lack standing.
“While today’s ruling is disappointing, it is certainly not the end of the road for our efforts to make this President or any president adhere to the U.S. Constitution’s explicit ban on accepting money from foreign governments,” Chair DeFazio said. “I issued a subpoena as part of the Committee’s aggressive pursuit of key documents and legal memos from the General Services Administration, which oversees the Trump International Hotel lease. It is virtually unprecedented that the President of the United States is both the landlord and the tenant of any federal building, and I am fighting on behalf of the American people who deserve to know exactly if and how President Trump is using his position to enrich himself, his business, his family, or his associates.”
“Our lawsuit hit a roadblock because we did not have a majority in the House when we filed it. Now that the American people elected a House majority that cares about the Constitution, we should vote to enforce the law,” Chair Titus said. “I will work with Speaker Pelosi to ensure that President Trump is held accountable for violating the Constitution. President Trump’s decision to take money from foreign governments looking to curry favor with his Administration is unethical, unacceptable, and illegal. President Trump may have called the Emoluments Clause “phony,” but some of us take our oath to the Constitution seriously.”
For more information of the oversight and investigative efforts by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, click here.
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