Why ‘Emoluments’ Might Mean Headaches for Trump: QuickTake Q&A
Will the Trumps Cash In at the White House?
America’s founding fathers probably didn’t envision Donald Trump. They did, however, think to include a sentence in the U.S. Constitution that today strikes some critics as an appropriate check on the businessman-president. Chatter about the provision, known as the "emoluments clause," has intensified following Trump’s inauguration, his decision to keep his stakes in the Trump Organization, and a lawsuit by a government watchdog group. The first challenge may be determining what, exactly, the clause really means.
The foreign emoluments clause -- in Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution -- reads, "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."